SOLAR WIND, INCOMING: A high-speed stream of solar wind is approaching Earth. ETA: March 1-2. The gaseous material is flowing 500+ km/s from a southern hole in the sun's atmosphere. Geomagnetic unrest and Arctic auroras are likely when the solar wind arrives. Solar flare alerts: SMS Text.
MAGNETIC FROTH: Some sunspots are flare-y. Sunspot AR2804 is simply frothy. Apollo Lasky of Naperville, Illinois, photographed the growing active region on Feb 25th and this is what he saw:
AR2804 is surrounded by a seething, white-hot foam of magnetized plasma. "Visually, it reminds me a little of an iceberg--really hot ice!" says Lasky.
To photograph the sunspot group, Lasky used a "Calcium K" (CaK) filter that passes light from singly-ionized calcium atoms in the sun's atmosphere. CaK filters are excellent detectors of froth--the bubbly, turbulent sea of magnetism that surrounds many large sunspot groups. AR2804 has not yet produced any strong flares, but it is very frothy indeed.
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STEVE IN THE MOONLIGHT: STEVE is back. Matt Quiring spotted the mauve ribbon of light on Feb 24th over Jasper Lake, Alberta:
"I had gone out to chase auroras, but saw this instead," says Quiring. "The bright moonlight did wash things out a bit, but as always it was great to see STEVE in the sky."
STEVE is a recent discovery. It looks like an aurora, but it is not. The soft purple glow is caused by hot (3000°C) ribbons of gas flowing through Earth’s magnetosphere at speeds exceeding 6 km/s (13,000 mph).
Quiring photographed STEVE at 07:52 UT on Feb. 24th, only a few hours after a CME grazed Earth's magnetic field. Coincidence? Probably not. As our planet passed through the CME's magnetized wake, hot currents and plasma waves rippled through Earth's magnetosphere. STEVE was the result.
Realtime STEVE Photo Gallery
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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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