CME GLANCING BLOW POSSIBLE ON MAY 13th: Friday the 13th could be a lucky day for auroraphiles. A CME launched by yesterday's cluster of southern explosions on the sun might graze Earth's magnetic field on May 13th. This is a low confidence forecast. If/when the CME arrives, its glancing blow could spark minor geomagnetic storms and auroras at high latitudes.Aurora alerts: SMS Text
X-CLASS SOLAR FLARE: "Mixed-up" sunspot AR3006 exploded on May 10th (1355 UT), producing an intense X1.5-class solar flare. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory recorded the extreme ultraviolet flash:
Radiation from the flare ionized the top of Earth's atmosphere, causing a shortwave radio blackout around the Atlantic Ocean: blackout map. Radio transmissions at frequencies below ~30 MHz were attenuated for more than an hour after the flare.
Since the flare occurred, a mish-mash of CMEs has billowed away from the sun's southern hemisphere. It is unclear if these CMEs are related to the X-flare or instead some other, lesser explosions that happened at almost the same time. There was a filament eruption to the right of the X-flare, and a C4-class solar flare in a different sunspot to the left. NOAA analysts are busy unraveling these events using computer models to determine if one of the CMEs might hit Earth.
Update: One of the CMEs referenced above might graze Earth's magnetic field on May 13th, according to NOAA analysts. The source of the CME is still uncertain. It came from either the X1.5-flare in sunspot AR3006 or the nearly simultaneous C4-flare in sunspot AR3007. Solar flare alerts: SMS Text
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"I LOVE YOU MORE" MOONSTONE PENDANT: Are you looking for a far-out gift? 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 anniversary or birthday 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
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