FARSIDE SUNSPOTS: NASA's STEREO-A spacecraft is monitoring three ultraviolet hotspots on the farside of the sun. Because of their compact morphology, they are probably sunspots. The trio will rotate into view early this week, potentially bringing a sharp increase in sunspot number. Solar flare alerts: SMS Text.
WHAT LIES BENEATH THE SUN: Did you know? Beneath every winter sun lies another sun, a sub-sun. To see it, you just have to go skiing. Mike Kruze hit the slopes this weekend and photographed a magnificent subsun over Jackson Hole, Wyoming:
"It was a cold morning at the Jackson Hole ski area, and when the sun broke through the clouds a bright sub-sun appeared below the horizon," says Kruze. "I shot it using my iPhone 12 Pro."
The subsun is a direct reflection of the sun from millions of ice crystals acting together as a giant mirror. Some of the individual reflections are visible in Kruze's photo. Here are a few hundred.
In addition to the sub-sun, Kruze also caught a pair of sub-sundogs. Researchers call them "subparhelia", and they are formed in the same way.
Ski resorts are great places to see these phenomena. The air at ski resorts is often filled with diamond dust ice crystals produced by snow-making machines. The geometry of the slopes does the rest, providing a clear view of what lies beneath the sun.
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THE CRESCENT VENUS PENDANT: Valentine's Day is only weeks away. Nothing says "I love you" like a Venus Pendant from the edge of space. This one flew to the stratosphere onboard a cosmic ray research balloon on Jan. 8, 2022:
You can have it for $142.95. The opal crescent is framed by sterling silver with a matching hypoallergenic chain. It comes with a greeting card showing the pendant in flight and telling the story of its journey to the stratosphere.
Why is it a crescent? Because Venus itself was a crescent on the date of the flight. On Jan. 8, 2022, the second planet was at inferior conjunction with the sun. From Earth it looked like a slender crescent--the most beautiful phase of the Goddess of Love.
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