GEOMAGNETIC STORM FORECAST: A CME expected to hit Earth on Aug. 30th is either late or it missed. However, that doesn't mean there won't be a geomagnetic storm. Another CME, propelled toward us by Saturday's M4.7-class solar flare, is on the way. NOAA forecasters say there is a chance of G2-class geomagnetic storms when it arrives on Sept. 1-2. Aurora alerts: SMS Text.
MONSTER SUNSPOT: Sunspot AR2860 is big, and it's ready to flare. Eduardo Schaberger Poupeau photographed the active region yesterday from Rafaela, Argentina:
The sunspot group has more than a dozen dark cores sprawling across 100,000 km of starscape. These dimensions make it an easy target for safely-filtered backyard telescopes. Don't have a filter? Try the projection technique.
Currently, AR2860 is crackling with minor C-class solar flares. However, it has a "beta-gamma" magnetic field that harbors energy for stronger M-class eruptions. Solar flare alerts: SMS Text.
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AFTERGLOW OF A CME: On Aug. 27th, skies over the Northwest Territories of Canada filled with color. It was the afterglow of a CME:
Photographer Martin Male caught the aurora's reflection from the still waters of Pontoon Lake. "It was a nice, warm and calm night," he says. "Clouds drifting by added to the scene."
The source of the display was a CME that struck Earth's magnetosphere the day before. At first the impact had little effect. But then Earth entered the CME's strongly-magnetized wake. Our planet's magnetic field is linked up with the CME's, sparking a G1-class geomagnetic storm and a lovely afterglow. Aurora alerts: SMS Text.
Realtime Aurora Photo Gallery
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THE PINK AURORA PEARL: Inspired by the color of rare pink auroras, Spaceweather.com and the students of Earth to Sky Calculus launched a pink pearl to the stratosphere. It hitched a ride onboard a cosmic ray research balloon, flying 112,205 feet above the Sierra Nevada mountains of central California:
You can have it for $249.95. The students are selling space pearls to support their cosmic ray monitoring program. Measuring 9 mm in diameter, the Aurora Pearl is mounted on a sterling silver infinity twist and suspended on a matching 17 inch long sterling silver chain. Each pearl comes with a greeting card showing the pendant in flight and telling the story of its journey to the edge of space.
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