FARSIDE SUNSPOTS: Right now, there are sunspots on the farside of the sun so big they are affecting the way the sun vibrates. Helioseismologists have detected their echoes in the latest farside map from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory. Don't be surprised if we see CMEs billowing away from the farside of the sun in the days ahead. Solar flare alerts: SMS Text.
EXPLODING COMET DEBRIS: Have you ever seen a piece of a comet explode? Francis Murphy did on Monday night in Thorndale, Pennsylvania:
The tau Herculid meteor shower was underway as debris from Comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann 3 peppered the top of Earth's atmosphere. This piece of the broken comet disintegrated 90 km above above the ground, spreading its remains across the edge of space.
"The meteor's trail twisted and turned in high altitude winds," says Murphy. "It was the brightest of 10 to 15 tau Herculids we saw during a 3-hour observing session."
In Mormon Lake, Arizona, astronomer David Blanchard saw the same thing--twice. This video shows two tau Herculids disintegrating in a star field with satellites and airplanes whizzing by.
According to the International Meteor Organization, the shower peaked with a sharp maximum of 50 meteors/hour around 0450 UT on May 31st. The timing is in excellent agreement with the predictions of Joe Rao, a lecturer at the Hayden Planetarium who drew attention to this shower before it happened.
more images: from Mohammad Odeh of Abu Dhabi, UAE; from Jocelyn Blanchette of Fermont, Quebec, Canada; from Jack Jewell of Boulder, Colorado; from L. Michael of Charlotte, NC; from Andreas Gada of Roseneath, Ontario, Canada;
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"I LOVE YOU FOREVER" MOONSTONE PENDANT: Are you looking for a far-out gift? Consider the "I Love You Forever" Moonstone. This one hitched a ride to the stratosphere onboard a cosmic ray research ballooin on May 13, 2022:
You can have it for $162.95. The moonstone's sterling silver infinity wrap is inscribed with the words "I love you forever." It makes a great anniversary or birthday gift. The moonstone comes with a greeting card showing the pendant in flight, telling the story of its trip to the edge of space and back again.
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