A 'CANYON OF FIRE' JUST OPENED ON THE SUN: A dark filament of magnetism just whipsawed out of the sun's atmosphere, carving a gigantic canyon of fire. The walls of the canyon are at least 20,000 km high and 10 times as long. Fragments of the magnetic filament may soon emerge from the blast site in the form of an Earth-directed CME. Stay tuned and, meanwhile, watch the movie. Solar flare alerts: SMS Text
LONG DURATION SOLAR FLARE AND CME: Yesterday, April 2nd, departing sunspot AR2975 exploded, producing a long-duration M4-class solar flare. Although the sunspot was not directly facing Earth, it might have hurled some debris in our direction:
This SOHO coronagraph movie shows an asymmetric full-halo CME emerging from the blast site. The bulk of the CME will miss, but perhaps not all. A fraction of the storm cloud appears to be heading for Earth and could strike our planet's magnetic field on April 5th or 6th. A glancing blow could spark a minor G1-class geomagnetic storm.
See all the snow at the beginning of the coronagraph movie? That is a storm of energetic protons striking SOHO's digital camera. The protons were accelerated toward Earth by shockwaves at the leading edge of the CME. Solar flare alerts: SMS Text
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THE SOUTHERN LIGHTS: What should you do when a CME hits Earth's magnetic field? "Get on a plane," says Ian Griffin of the Otago Museum in Dunedin, New Zealand. On April 1, 2022, he joined 270 aurora chasers on a flight toward the South Pole--and this is what they saw:
A Cannibal CME had hit Earth's magnetic field just hours earlier, sparking a G1-class geomagnetic storm. In the northern hemisphere, auroras appeared as far south as Colorado and Nebraska. They did not compare, however, to the colorful light show Griffin witnessed.
"The enthusiasts on board were treated to a wonderful display of aurora australis," says Griffin. "To see the lights, we chartered a Boeing 767 out of Christchurch and spent 10 hours in the air. For a while we were south of latitude 60 degrees--deep inside the southern auroral zone."
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STERLING SILVER RAINBOW DRAGONFLY: Are you looking for a far-out gift? Nothing says "I love you" like a rainbow dragonfly from the edge of space. On Jan 28th, this sterling silver pendant hitched a ride onboard an Earth to Sky Calculus cosmic ray research balloon:
You can have it for $172.95. The dragonfly's heart is a Celtic love knot, and its wings are decorated with a spray of rainbow-colored crystals. This item is 100% 925 sterling silver, lead-free, nickel-free, cadmium-free, and totally hypoallergenic.
The students are selling dragonfly pendants to support their cosmic ray ballooning program. Each one comes with a greeting card showing the pendant in flight and telling the story of its trip to the stratosphere and back again.
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