GEOMAGNETIC UNREST EXPECTED: Minor geomagnetic unrest is expected on March 18th when a co-rotating interaction region (CIR) disturbs Earth's magnetic field. CIRs are transition zones between fast- and slow-moving solar wind streams. Plasma piles up in these regions, creating shock-like density gradients that often do a good job sparking auroras. Aurora alerts: SMS Text
WHEN A FLAME IS NOT MADE OF FIRE: It's hot. It dances and flickers like flame. But it's not fire. Randy Shivak of Cape Coral, Florida, photographed this solar prominence on March 16th:
"Good seeing conditions allowed me to increase magnifiction and capture this large prominence with my homemade 228mm refractor," says Shivak. "I used a Daystar H-alpha filter tuned to the red glow of solar hydrogen."
Prominences resemble gigantic flames; this one even seems to be billowing smoke from its top. But the resemblance is illusory. Unlike the wick of a burning candle, where oxygen is combined with hydrocarbons to produce light and heat, no combustion is taking place inside a solar prominence. Plasma-filled prominences glow simply because they are hot (like a stovetop glows red when it gets very hot) and they flicker because their magnetic fields are unstable. These characteristics give prominences a flame-like appearance, but they are not made of fire.
The flame which is not fire is still "burning" today. You can find it, right here.
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ST. PATRICK'S DAY ECLIPSE: What can you do with a 4-leaf clover? Today in Atwater, California, Richard Sears used one to create a solar eclipse:
"I blocked the glare of the sun to photograph a 22-degree halo around the sun," says Sears. The ring of light is caused by ice crystals in cirrostratus clouds. This type of hazy cloud floats 5 to 10 km high where the air temperature is always freezing, 365 days a year. The halo can thus appear at any time of year. Only on March 17th, however, is clover the best way to reveal them. Happy St. Patrick's Day!
STERLING SILVER HUMMINGBIRD PENDANT: This hummingbird has touched space. The sterling silver pendant hitched a ride to the stratosphere on Jan. 15, 2021, when the students of Earth to Sky Calculus launched a cosmic ray balloon. Here it is, floating 111,202 feet above the snow-capped Sierra Nevada of central California:
You can have it for $133.95. The students are selling hummingbird pendants to support their cosmic ray ballooning program. Each one comes with a greeting card showing the hummingbird 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!
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