DARK FILAMENT ERUPTION ON THE SUN: A dark filament of magnetism flung itself away from the sun yesterday, Feb 20th. The eruption split the sun's atmosphere, creating a broad "canyon of fire" and hurling a CME into space. NOAA analysts are modeling the CME to determine if it will hit Earth. Our first guess: Earth will receive a glancing blow on or about Feb. 23rd. Stay tuned. Aurora alerts: SMS Text.
PINK AURORAS OVER ICELAND: "I've never seen the sky so pink before," says Jónína Óskarsdóttir, who witnessed an outbreak of nitrogeneous auroras over Fáskrúðsfjörður, Iceland:
"It was great, though it didn't last for long time because of the cloud cover," says Óskarsdóttir.
Pink auroras are a sign of nitrogen. Most auroras are green--the color of oxygen atoms being struck by energetic particles 100 km to 300 km above Earth's surface. Pink appears when energetic particles from space descend lower than usual, striking nitrogen molecules at the 100 km level and below.
The energetic particles, in this case, came from a hole in the sun's atmosphere spewing solar wind faster than 600 km/s. Cracks in Earth's magnetic field allowed the wind in, deep enough for pink. Aurora alerts: SMS Text.
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THIS IS *REAL* MONEY FROM SPACE: The US Mint has just released a reverse-proof dollar coin honoring the Hubble Space Telescope. The students of Earth to Sky Calculus took it one step further, flying a whole roll of Hubble coins to the edge of space. Here they are floating 35.3 km (115,814 ft) above the Sierra Nevada mountains of central California:
You can have one for $39.95. The students are selling Hubble coins to support their cosmic ray ballooning program. Each coin comes with a greeting card showing the money in flight and telling the story of its trip to the stratosphere. Best of all, this is real money! You can actually spend it. All sales support hands-on STEM research.
Far Out Gifts: Earth to Sky Store
All sales support hands-on STEM education
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