NORTHERN TAURID FIREBALLS: If you see a fireball this week, it's probably a piece of Comet 2P/Encke, source of the annual Northern Taurid meteor shower. Northern Taurid meteors are notoriously slow and bright, and they fly out of an easy-to-find patch of sky near the Pleiades. The shower will be active all week as Earth passes through the comet's broad trail of gravelly debris. Forecasters expect no more than ~5 Taurids per hour when the shower peaks on Nov. 11-12, but sometimes just one Taurid is enough. Look up after midnight for best results. Sky maps: Nov. 11, 12.
SUNSPOT ARCHIPELAGO: Sunspots are magnetic islands on the sun. Sunspot AR2781 is a complete archipelago. Scroll down to scan more than 100,000 miles of island chain:
Amateur astronomer Alan Friedman took the picture on Nov. 8th from his backyard observatory in Buffalo, New York. "AR2781 is a tremendous archipelago and a wonderful target for backyard solar telescopes," he says.
The island metaphor is apt. Sunspots are buoyant concentrations of magnetism that float on a sea of solar plasma. The archipelago, above, consists of one big island about as wide as Earth plus dozens of lesser isles ranging in size from US states to small planets.
AR2781 is currently facing Earth, and it poses a threat for C-class solar flares. Such flares can cause minor radio blackouts and, if they hurl a CME in our direction, moderately-strong geomagnetic storms.Solar flare alerts: SMS Text.
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GIRLS CAN'T WHAT? On Oct. 30th, an all-woman team of Earth to Sky students launched a cosmic ray balloon to the stratosphere. This Christmas ornament hitched a ride, flying 98,424 feet high:
You can have it for $77.95. Inscribed with the words "Girls Can't What?", the ceramic disk makes a great gift for young scientists. The students of Earth to Sky Calculus are selling edge-of-space Christmas ornaments to support their cosmic ray ballooning program. Each one comes with a greeting card showing the disk in flight and telling the story of its journey to the edge of space and back again.
Far Out Gifts: Earth to Sky Store
All sales support hands-on STEM education
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