THE SOLAR WIND HAS ARRIVED: A stream of fast-moving (~500 km/s) solar wind hit Earth's magnetic field during the early hours of Dec. 15th. The gaseous material is flowing from a southern hole in the sun's atmosphere. So far the action of the solar wind has not been sufficient to produce a geomagnetic storm; nevertheless, Arctic sky watchers should be alert for auroras. Aurora alerts: SMS Text.
SUNSPOT GENESIS: The sunspot number is rapidly increasing as a profusion of dark cores emerges in the sun's southern hemisphere. This 24-hour movie from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory shows sunspot genesis in action:
The new sunspots are crackling with C-class solar flares. Stronger M-class flares may be in the offing as the sunspots continue to grow. Stay tuned. Solar flare alerts: SMS Text.
GEMINID SUPER-FIREBALL: The Geminid meteor shower peaked on Dec. 14th with more than 100 meteors per hour. At the Teide Observatory in the Canary Islands, just one was enough:
"I saw it myself," says photographer Juan Carlos Casado. "The Geminid began with an orange tone, then changed quickly to a green emerald hue. It was so brilliant that it cast a green light across the landscape."
There is a lot of astronomy in this picture: "In the foreground is the dome of the MASTER robotic telescope; it's part of a Russian network that monitors the heavens for transient events," explains Casado. "Just at right in the background is Teide volcano. Points of light on the mountainside are mountaineers who climb at night to see the sunrise from the top. The winter Milky Way is shown in the sky, along with Orion, Sirius, and the Pleiades star cluster. Red airglow bands are also visible."
Geminids are pieces of gravelly debris from rock comet 3200 Phaethon. The one that produced this fireball was bigger than usual--about the size of a baseball traveling 78,000 mph.
Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery
Free: Spaceweather.com Newsletter
GIFTS FROM THE EDGE OF SPACE: Christmas is coming. Are you looking for a far-out gift? Check out the Earth to Sky Store. It's filled with unique items that have flown to the edge of space onboard cosmic ray research balloons.
These unique gifts have flown above 99.7% of Earth's atmosphere, experiencing space-like blasts of cosmic rays, extreme cold, and a wild ride parachuting back to Earth after the balloon explodes. Even Amazon doesn't carry items this far out.
Don't forget to enter coupon code "SPACESANTA" at checkout for a 10% Extended Black Friday discount.
Far Out Gifts: Earth to Sky Store
All sales support hands-on STEM education
Realtime Aurora Photo Gallery
Free: Spaceweather.com Newsletter
Realtime Comet Leonard Photo Gallery
Free: Spaceweather.com Newsletter