A NEW SUNSPOT: Breaking a string of 4 spotless days, a new sunspot is emerging in the sun's northern hemisphere. The sunspot's magnetic polarity identifies it as a member of new Solar Cycle 25. Solar flare alerts: SMS Text.
A SAHARA SUNSET ... IN ENGLAND: Orange, a little gritty, streaked with wisps of sand--in other words, a typical Sahara, sunset. Dave Moore saw one just last night. The strange thing was, he was in Staffordshire, England:
A plume of Sahara dust just swept across Europe, producing sunsets like this in England, Ireland, Spain, and other countries thousands of kilometers from the sandy desert. Windblown dust warmed the air, creating thermal layers that distort the shape of the sun as well as coloring it orange.
Each year more than 180 million tons of dust blow out of North Africa, sometimes crossing the Atlantic to the Americas but more often taking the shorter trip to Europe. The Spring season for desert dust is just getting started. European sky watchers, submit your photos here.
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VERY MYS-STEVE-IOUS: It looked like STEVE. "But I don't think it was STEVE," says Rayann Elzein of Utsjoki, Finland, who took the picture, below, on April 2nd. Readers, take a closer look and decide for yourself:
STEVE (Strong Thermal Emission Velocity Enhancement) is a purple ribbon of hot gas that flows through Earth's magnetosphere during some geomagnetic storms. It often appears alongside green auroras, especially the "picket fence."
Was this STEVE? We agree with Elzein. It was not. The "ribbon" is actually as much green as purple. It's probably a vertical sheet of auroras viewed edge on. The top of the sheet is purple (the color of ionized nitrogen auroras) and the bottom is green (the color of atomic oxygen auroras).
Auroras imitating STEVE... "This was something I never really observed before," says Elzein. Maybe STEVE himself will appear on April 5th, when a stream of solar wind is expected to hit Earth's magnetic field. Stay tuned. Aurora alerts: SMS Text.
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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 $142.95. 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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