AURORAS FOR VALENTINE'S DAY? Minor G1-class geomagnetic storms are possible on Feb. 14th when a stream of solar wind is expected to hit Earth's magnetic field. The gaseous material is flowing from an equatorial hole in the sun's atmosphere. Around the Arctic Circle, Valentine's skies could be very romantic, indeed. Aurora alerts: SMS Text.
MULTIPLE SOLAR FLARES AND CMEs (UPDATED): The sun experienced an episode of near-global activity yesterday. Sunspots AR2939, AR2940, AR2941 and AR2944 all produced solar flares ranging in magnitude from C6 to M1. In addition, a spotless magnetic filament exploded in the sun's southern hemisphere. Multiple CMEs flew into space:
Remarkably, none of these CMEs are expected to hit Earth. All of them appear to be just outside the strike zone. Maybe next time... Solar flare alerts: SMS Text.
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AURORAS AND METEOR SMOKE: On Feb. 10th, a G1-class geomagnetic storm erupted. Danish photographer Ruslan Merzlyakov was hurredly setting up his camera to catch the auroras when he was interrupted by a fireball. "A bright meteor streaked across the sky," he says. Back to work, he took this picture:
"I sat and watched a smoke ring from the meteor expand among the auroras," he says. "It was visible for 20 minutes!"
Meteors disintegrate about 100 km above Earth's atmosphere. Auroras range in altitude from 80 km to ~600 km, so the two may have physically overlapped. More likely, the smoke ring was located below the auroras. Either way, great shot!
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VALENTINE'S GIFTS FROM THE EDGE OF SPACE: Does your sweetheart love space? Their perfect Valentine's gift may be in the Earth to Sky Store. All items in the store have flown to the edge of space on board cosmic ray research balloons. From now until Feb. 14th, everything is 10% off:
Each purchase comes with a greeting card showing the item in flight and telling the story of its journey to the stratosphere and back again. Don't forget to enter the coupon code "ILOVESPACE" for your Valentine's discount!
Far Out Gifts: Earth to Sky Store
All sales support hands-on STEM education
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