COMING SOON: THE PERSEID METEOR SHOWER: Earth is approaching a stream of debris from giant Comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle, source of the annual Perseid meteor shower. First contact should occur in the nights ahead, producing the first few Perseids of 2021. Meteor rates will skyrocket in August, reaching ~100 per hour on the moonless night of August 11-12 when Earth cuts through the heart of the debris stream: sky map.
SOMETHING FLARE-Y THIS WAY COMES: The southeastern limb of the sun is seething with activity. During the late hours of July 19th, Earth-orbiting satellites detected multiple long-duration solar flares as glowing masses of plasma and magnetic arches surged into view. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory recorded the action:
The source of the turmoil is one or more sunspots hidden behind the limb of the sun. They won't remain hidden for long. The sun's rotation is turning the 'spots toward Earth, and we should be able to see them in the next day or two.
Update: The eruptions of July 19th also hurled a CME into space: movie. The storm cloud will not hit Earth. Future CMEs might, however, as the underlying blast site rotates in our direction later this week. Solar flare alerts: SMS Text.
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DARTH VADER MUG FROM SPACE: This mug is for the drinker who likes their coffee black. On July 16, 2021, the students of Earth to Sky Calculus launched a 18 oz. sculpted Darth Vader coffee cup to the stratosphere. Here it is floating more than 105,315 feet above Mono Lake in central California:
You can have it for $132 (two times Order $66). Vader comes with a greeting card showing the cup in flight and telling the story of its trip to the edge of space. It survived the stratosphere, and it will survive your kitchen, too. The high quality stoneware is rated dishwasher safe.
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