A STRANGE NEW SUNSPOT: A new sunspot is emerging in the sun's southern hemisphere--and it's a little strange. For one thing, it is circular. For another, its magnetic field is tilted 90 degrees away from normal sunspots. This one merits watching. Solar flare alerts: SMS Text.
NOCTILUCENT CLOUDS: Noctilucent clouds (NLCs) are spilling out of the Arctic Circle. Airline pilot Zach Alcantar saw them from the cockpit window on June 7th:
"While captaining a Global Express aircraft over the North Atlantic, I had the pleasure of viewing noctilucent clouds for hours as I made my way towards Europe," says Alcantar. "I have never seen them so well defined."
NLCs are Earth’s highest clouds. They form when summertime wisps of water vapor rise to the edge of space (~83 km high) and crystallize around disintegrated meteoroids. When you see one, you’re literally seeing a cloud of frosted meteor smoke.
NASA's AIM spacecraft detected the season's first NLCs inside the Arctic Circle on May 22nd. Since then they have been spinning around the North Pole and intensifying:
Above: An animation of NLCs seen by AIM from May 22nd - June 6th.
The clouds are now crossing the Arctic Circle with sightings in Canada, Scotland, Belgium, Germany. Soon, the clouds will be even further south, probably reaching mid-latitudes before the end of June. To see them, look west 30 to 60 minutes after sunset (or before sunrise) when the sun is just below the horizon.
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JEDI WINE GLASS: Father's Day is next weekend. Are you looking for a far out gift? Consider the Jedi Wine Glass. This one hitched a ride to the stratosphere onboard a cosmic ray research balloon on June 1, 2022:
You can have it for $99.95. The funny stemless wine glass spent 2 hours floating in the stratosphere while cosmic ray sensors gathered data. It experienced temperatures as low as -63C and a vacuum-like air pressure only 0.2% of sea level.
The students of Earth to Sky Calculus are selling Jedi wine glasses to support their cosmic ray ballooning program. Each one comes with a greeting card showing the glass in flight and telling the story of its trip to the stratosphere and back again.
Far Out Gifts: Earth to Sky Store
All sales support hands-on STEM education
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