MORNING PLANETS: Set your alarm for dawn. Jupiter, Venus, Mars and Saturn are lined up beautifully in the morning sky and , soon, Jupiter and Venus will converge for the finest conjunction of 2022. To see the show, all you need is a cup of coffee and some sky maps: April 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, May 1.
ANGRY SUNSPOT FACES EARTH: Sunspot complex AR2993-94 is crackling with M-class solar flares and, this weekend, it is directly facing Earth. Philippe Tosi phorographed the active region from Nîmes, France:
"I inserted an image of Earth for scale," notes Tosai. "It is a big sunspot."
Indeed, it is. There are two dark cores as large as Earth, and several more as wide as Earth's Moon. A magnetic filament attached to one of the cores is more than 100,000 km long.
These dimensions make the sunspot group an easy target for safely-filtered backyard telescopes. Don't have a filter? Try the projection method, instead.
more images: from Michael Karrer of Austria; from Apollo Lasky of Naperville, Illinois; from Günter Kleinschuster of Feldbach, Austria; from Martin Wise of Trenton, Florida; from Maximilian Teodorescu of Magurele, Romania
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MOTHER'S DAY IS MAY 8TH: Are you looking for an out-of-this world Mother's Day gift? Consider this: Every time the students of Earth to Sky Calculus launch a cosmic ray balloon, they include something extra in the payload--something Mom will love:
Every item in the Earth to Sky Store has flown to the edge of space and comes with a greeting card showing the item in flight. The interior of the card tells the story of the gift's journey from launch to landing. Mom-satisfaction guaranteed!
Mother's Day Special: Use coupon code "SPACEMOM" at checkout for a 10% discount. Offer valid from now until Mother's Day (May 8, 2022) .
Far Out Gifts: Earth to Sky Store
All sales support hands-on STEM education
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