LOST COSMIC RAY PAYLOAD RECOVERED: Ten months after it landed on the wall of a deep canyon in California's Inyo Mountains, a balloon payload carrying cosmic ray sensors has been recovered. The data can now be added to our unique time series of atmospheric radiation measurements (stay tuned for an update, soon). The team, led by Dr. Tony Phillips, logged 23 miles of hiking and climbing, with a total elevation gain of 8400 feet--all for a single data point!
SOLAR CYCLE UPDATE: Solar Cycle 25 continues to overperform. Sunspot counts for Sept. 2021 were the highest in more than 5 years. And, for the 11th month in a row, the sunspot number has significantly exceeded the official forecast.
The plot above shows sunspot counts vs. time. The red curve traces the forecast issued by the NOAA/NASA Solar Cycle 25 Prediction Panel in 2019. It calls for a relatively weak solar cycle peaking in July 2025.
The sun has a mind of its own, though. Higher-than-expected sunspot counts suggest a stronger cycle, with a peak occuring in late 2024 instead of mid-2025. This is good news for aurora watchers, but maybe not so good for the Internet. Solar flare alerts: SMS Text.
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RARE MR. SPOCK MUG (COLLECTOR'S ITEM): It's the logical way to wake up in the morning: Coffee in a rare Mr. Spock mug. The students of Earth to Sky Calculus flew this ceramic collector's item to the stratosphere onboard a cosmic ray research balloon:
You cannot buy these mugs anywhere on the internet--not even Amazon. But you can have one from Earth to Sky Calculus for $170.10. That's the serial number of the Enterprise divided by 10. The mug comes with a greeting card showing the item in flight and telling the story of its journey to the edge of space and back again. It's a great gift for any Trekkie!
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