SUNSET PLANET SHOW: When the sun goes down tonight, step outside and look southwest. The crescent Moon is passing by Venus in the twilight sky. Binoculars pointed at Venus will reveal the 2nd magnitude star delta Scorpii just ¾° away. It's a great way to end the day: sky map.
EARTH-DIRECTED SOLAR FLARE AND CME: Restless sunspot AR2882 erupted this morning, Oct. 9th (0640 UT), producing a strong M1.6-class solar flare and an Earth-directed CME. NASA's Solar Dynamics captured the extreme ultraviolet flash:
Radiation from the flare ionized the top of Earth's atmosphere. This, in turn, caused a shortwave radio blackout over the Indian Ocean: blackout map. Aviators, ham radio operators, and ships at sea may have noticed strange propagation effects at frequencies below 25 MHz.
New images from SOHO confirm that the explosion hurled a CME almost directly toward Earth. This is called a "halo CME" because it appears to completely surround the sun:
The storm cloud will probably reach Earth late on Oct. 11th or Oct. 12th, potentially sparking G1 to G2-class geomagnetic storms. A better estimate of the CME's arrival time may emerge from NOAA computer modeling, underway now. Stay tuned for updates. Solar flare alerts: SMS Text.
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STERLING SILVER INFINITY PEARL: Nothing says "I love you forever" like the Infinity Pearl. On Jan. 10, 2021, the students of Earth to Sky Calculus launched this unique pendant to the stratosphere onboard a cosmic ray research balloon. For more than 2 hours it floated 101,378+ 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 ballooning program. Measuring 9 mm in diameter, the Infinity Pearl is mounted on a sterling silver infinity twist and suspended from a matching 17 inch long sterling silver chain. Each one 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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