ARCTIC AURORA WATCH: Earth is entering a region of dense, strongly magnetized solar wind. The encounter has opened a crack in Earth's magnetic field. Solar wind pouring through the gap could spark Arctic auroras on Dec. 19-20. Aurora alerts: SMS Text.
AN EXPLOSION ON THE SUN: Yesterday, an active region emerging from the sun's southeastrn limb exploded, producing a C6-class solar flare and a beautiful loop-shaped prominence:
Debris from the explosion will miss Earth. However future eruptions might be geoeffective as the unstable blast site moves into our planet's strike zone later this week. Stay tuned. Solar flare alerts: SMS Text.
A METEOR SHOWER ON VENUS? Today, Dec. 19th, the fan-shaped tail of Comet Leonard (C/2021 A1) is sweeping across the Venus. This could cause a meteor shower in the planet's thick cloudtops. A team of astronomers led by Qicheng Zhang of Caltech predicted the shower, and they created this spatial map of its potential activity:
Meteoroids from Comet Leonard will rain down on Venus not far from the edge of Venus's sunlit crescent, making the shower very difficult to see from Earth. However, if there are any big meteoroids lurking in Leonard's tail, fragments larger than a few meters, Venusian fireballs could be theoretically visible.
"The odds of seeing anything are likely quite low," says Zhang. "If any meteors are observable, they would largely around 21:00 UT ± a few tens of minutes, [when we believe Venus will be passing through the heart of Leonard's tail]."
Amateur astronomers are encouraged to point their telescopes at Venus this evening. If you see any flashes of light, it might be a Leonardid meteor.
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