SOLAR WIND FROM THE SUN'S NORTH POLE: Earth is inside a minor stream of solar wind leaking from a far-northern hole in the sun's atmosphere. Geomagnetic storms are not expected. Nevertheless, the action of the stream could spark auroras around the Arctic Circle on Sept. 13-14. Aurora alerts: SMS Text.
TWILIGHT AURORAS: It's that time of year. Inside the Arctic Circle, the summer sun is receding as autumn approaches. With this transition comes a rare mixture of colors: twilight blue and aurora green. Rayann Elzein photographed the mash-up over Utsjoki, Finland on Sept. 10th:
"Auroras appeared during evening twilight, way before the sky became completely dark," says Elzein. "It was the strongest show in quite a while, possibly even one of the strongest of this 2021 calendar year--a night to remember!"
The display was caused by a CME that almost hit Earth. The storm cloud passed by our planet, a near-miss that pushed aside ambient solar wind, shoving some into Earth's magnetosphere. It was just enough of an "impact" to illuminate the Arctic circle with twilight auroras.
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STERLING SILVER OPAL PENDANT: It's our most beautiful space pendant ever: The Sterling Silver Opal. The students of Earth to Sky Calculus just launched one to the stratosphere onboard a cosmic ray research balloon. Here it is floating 103,018 ft above Earth's surface on Sept. 5th:
You can have it for $179.95. Wrapped in a sterling silver Celtic love knot, the opal is suspended from a matching 18-inch chain. Each pendant comes with a greeting card showing the opal in flight, telling the story of its trip to the edge of space and back again.
Opals are cousins of moonstones; in fact they look the same in low light. But when bright sunlight strikes an opal, something special happens. A spray of color emerges from the stone. This happened while the stone was in the stratosphere (see above) and it remains capable of this beautiful trick back on Earth.
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