RETURN OF THE RED AURORAS: Last night (Nov. 11-12), rare red auroras returned to Finland. "The red color was not visible to the naked eye, but large red streaks appeared in short exposures with our cameras," reports photographer Rayann Elzein. Just like last month, when the same thing happened, the red hue appeared when the solar wind was slow and unusually dense. Aurora alerts: SMS Text.
SOLAR FLARE ACTIVITY (UPDATED): There's a new spot on the sun: AR2782. It's not very large, but it is unstable. The active region is crackling with C-class solar flares. The action began on Nov. 11th (1910 UT) with this category C2 eruption:
Watch the animation again. Do you see a sudden dimming just outside the blast site? The explosion actually blew hot gas out of the sun's atmosphere, leaving a relatively dark void behind.
The flare hurled a CME (coronal mass ejection) into space. NOAA analysts have determined that the CME will not hit Earth. Future eruptions may be geoeffective, however, as the sunspot turns to face out planet. CME alerts: SMS Text.
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HOW TO FIND COMET ATLAS: If you know your way around the constellation Orion, you won't have trouble finding Comet ATLAS (C/2020 M3). "The comet is located to the right and slightly below the Belt of Orion," says David Blanchard, who sends this photo from Flagstaff, Arizona:
That was on Nov. 9th. Now the green comet is just above the Belt of Orion. Comet ATLAS is in a new location every night as it glides toward Orion's head. A key date is Nov. 15th. Within hours of its closest approach to Earth, Comet ATLAS will pass a fraction of a degree from the bright star Bellatrix, Orion's left shoulder. Deep exposures may show Bellatrix shining through the outskirts of ATLAS's atmosphere. Sky maps: Nov. 12, 13, 14, 15, 16.
Note: You cannot see Comet ATLAS with your unaided eye. At closest approach on Nov. 14th, the comet will shine like an 8th magnitude star--about 6 times too dim for naked-eye visibility. It is, however, an easy target for backyard telescopes and off-the-shelf cameras.
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BLUE AURORA SPACE PENDANT: Inspired by the rarest of all auroras--blue ones--the students of Earth to Sky Calculus launched this pendant onboard a cosmic ray balloon. On Oct 24th, it soared to the stratosphere 102,362 feet above the Sierra Nevada mountains of central California:
You can have it for $99.95. The students are selling blue aurora pendants to support their cosmic ray ballooning program. Each one comes with a greeting card showing the pendant in flight and telling the story of its journey to the edge of space and back again.
The pendant's face shows an outburst of blue auroras, caused by the solar wind activating ionized nitrogen molecules at the top of Earth's atmosphere. A howling Arctic Wolf is silhouetted in the foreground.
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