WEEKEND AURORAS: Over the weekend, Arctic sky watchers witnessed some of the brightest auroras in years. The lights appeared on Jan. 8th when a CIR (co-rotating interaction region) unexpectedly hit Earth's magnetic field. G1-class geomagnetic storms persisted for 6 hours. Aurora alerts: SMS Text.
FARSIDE SOLAR EXPLOSION: Something just exploded on the farside of the sun. Hidden from view, the blast hurled a magnificent CME over the northeastern edge of the solar disk. The bright light at the top of this SOHO coronagraph movie is Venus, which happened to be passing by the sun at the same time:
When the CME appeared, US Air Force antennas detected strong Type II and Type IV radio bursts. These are caused by shock waves inside the CME. Frequency drifts revealed the speed of the storm cloud, approximately 575 km/s or 1.3 million mph.
The source of this blast, probably an unstable sunspot, should turn toward Earth later this week. Stay tuned. Solar flare alerts: SMS Text.
Realtime Aurora Photo Gallery
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THE MORNING STAR IS BACK: On Saturday, Jan. 8th, Venus passed by the sun, moving from the evening to the morning sky. Paolo Bardelli woke up early this morning in Sumirago (Varese), Italy, and made a discovery: "Venus is back!"
Bardelli shot the planet in morning twilight using a Canon 70D camera. His zoom lens revealed the shape of Venus--a thin crescent. The planet's night side is turned toward Earth, so only a thin fringe of sunlight is visible filtering through the narrow curve of Venus's upper atmosphere.
The Morning Star will remain this way for weeks to come. Set your alarm for dawn and check it out.
Realtime Venus Photo Gallery
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"I LOVE YOU MORE" MOONSTONE PENDANT: Valentine's Day is coming! Nothing says "I love you" like a moonstone from space. This one hitched a ride on an Earth to Sky Calculus cosmic ray research balloon, floating 112,201 feet above the Sierra Nevada mountains of central California:
You can have it for $142.95. The students are selling these sterling silver infinity-wrapped moonstone pendants to support their ballooning program. Engraved with "I Love You More," it makes a romantic Valentine's gift. Each one comes with a greeting card showing the moonstone in flight and telling the story of its trip to the stratosphere and back again.
Far Out Gifts: Earth to Sky Store
All sales support hands-on STEM education
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