MARS AND THE PLEIADES IN CONJUNCTION: When the sun goes down tonight, step outside and look up. Mars and the Pleiades star cluster are having a beautiful naked-eye conjunction--the closest they'll be until 2038. The conjunction is easy to find among the bright winter constellations of Orion, Gemini, and Taurus: sky map.
SOLAR WIND STORM: A solar wind stream is buffeting Earth's magnetic field on March 3rd, blowing almost 600 km/s. This is causing minor G1-class geomagnetic storms. In Europe, auroras have been sighted as far south as Scotland:
"I had to climb to get above the Aberdeenshire fog, and it was well worth the effort," says photographer Graeme Whipps, who made a must-see movie. "A double arc and brief display of rays danced above the fog on the northern horizon."
The solar wind is flowing from a southern hole in the sun's atmosphere. Earth should remain inside the stream for another day, with a slight chance that wind speeds could top 700 km/s, the fastest in years. High-latitude sky watchers should remain alert for auroras on March 3-4. Aurora alerts: SMS Text.
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MARS AND THE PLEIADES, CONTINUED... Last night in Tucson, Arizona, Scott Tucker took this picture of Mars approaching the Seven Sisters:
"This is a stack of 92 one-minute exposures," says Tucker. Although the conjunction is visible to the naked eye, requiring no optics to see, Tucker's long exposure with a camera brought out the blue nebulosity in the star cluster--a beautiful contrast to red Mars.
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THIS IS *REAL* MONEY FROM SPACE: The US Mint has 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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