THE GREAT QUEBEC BLACKOUT: This weekend is the anniverary of the Great Quebec Blackout--a power outage caused by the strongest geomagnetic storm of the Space Age. The outage began on March 13, 1989, when a pair of powerful coronal mass ejections (CMEs) delivered a one-two punch to Earth's magnetosphere. Could it happen again? Defintely. But next time the results might be different: full story.
AURORAS IN THE USA: As predicted, a solar wind stream hit Earth's magnetic field on March 13th, sparking a G1-class geomagnetic storm. Northern Lights spilled across the Canadian border into the USA, where MaryBeth Kiczenski saw them over Eagle Harbor, Michigan:
"What a showing last night around 9:30 p.m. Eastern Time," says Kiczenski. "The pinks and greens were visible to the naked eye. I lost my entire train of thought. I cheered. I may have shed a tear, even. I'm shocked I managed to get this in focus with all the excitement! Best I've seen to date."
Auroras were also sighted in Minnesota and Wisconsin. There's nothing special about auroras in the USA, per se. Canadians had an even better show. But auroras touching the "lower 48" are a sign that Solar Cycle 25 is intensifying. Today, it's Minnesota and Michigan; in a few years, perhaps, California and Texas. Stay tuned! Aurora alerts: SMS Text
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SPACEX ROCKET LAUNCH: This morning, March 14th, SpaceX launched another batch of 60 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral. The Falcon 9 rocket put on a spectacular show seen up and down the eastern seaboard. David Dickinson photographed the exhaust plume from downtown Norfolk, Virgina:
"We had an good view of this morning's launch," says Dickinson. "The resulting noctilucent cloud lingered for about an hour."
After the Starlink satellites were delivered to orbit, the rocket did something even more amazing. It landed. The reusable rocket's first stage returned to Earth and touched down on SpaceX's drone ship "Of Course I Still Love You" stationed in the Atlantic Ocean. The veteran Falcon 9 rocket is the first in SpaceX's fleet to launch and land a record nine times.
More sightings: from Elizabeth B. Fox of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina; from Gretchen Christophel of Silver Springs Shores, Florida; from Pete Lardizabal of St Johns, Florida; from Brent of Orlando, Florida.
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THE NORTHERN LIGHTS PENDANT: Are you looking for a far-out gift? Consider this: The Northern Lights Pendant. Here it is, hitching a ride to the stratosphere onboard an Earth to Sky Calculus cosmic ray balloon:
You can have it for $129.95. The students are selling these 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. It makes an out-of-this-world birthday, anniversary, or Mother's Day gift!
Far Out Gifts: Earth to Sky Store
All sales support hands-on STEM education
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