LOTS OF SUNSPOTS: Today, there are nine sunspot groups on the solar disk, the most in years. If only one explodes, Earth could experience a solar storm. The most likely would be sunspot AR3031, which has an unstable 'beta-gamma' magnetic field that harbors energy for M-class solar flares. Solar flare alerts: SMS Text
MAMMATUS SUNSET: Yesterday afternoon, a thunderstorm swept across Pennsylvania. Then this happened:
"Just after sunset, the sky turned a bright yellow," says photographer Mary Huth of Schenley, PA. "I went outside to see it, and the sky was filled with mammatus clouds."
Named for their resemblance to a cow's underbelly, mammatus clouds appear at the edges of some storms, often when a thundercloud is breaking up. Researchers have called them an "intriguing enigma," because no one knows exactly how they form. Mammatus clouds often go unnoticed because potential observers have been chased indoors by bad weather. If you are one of them, go back outside when the storm passes; you could witness a beautiful mystery in the sky.
more images: from Randy Hollaway of Pittsburgh, PA; from Patrick M. of Murrysville, Pennsylvania
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AN OUTBURST OF NOCTILUCENT CLOUDS: On June 15th, sky watchers across Europe witnessed an outburst of noctilucent clouds (NLCs) from the Arctic. "They came all the way to Poland," says Marek Nikodem, who photographed electric-blue ripples near Szubin:
"It was a really beautiful display," says Nikodem. "I noticed a lot of different structures: waves, bands, and whirls. A good start to the season."
NLCs are Earth's highest clouds. They form when wisps of summertime water vapor rise up to the edge of space and freeze around specks of meteor smoke.When you see one, you're literally seeing a cloud of frosted meteoroids.
Noctilucent clouds are famous for two things: (1) shining at night and (2) being wavy. The waves come from powerful storm systems near Earth's surface, which send ripples of temperature and pressure up into the sky. They're called "gravity waves." Gravity waves propagate all the way up to the mesosphere, where they imprint themselves on noctilucent clouds.
Night-shining waves were seen from many locations in Europe. more images: from Heiko Ulbricht near Börnchen, Saxony, Germany; from Ian Carstairs of Harleston, Norfolk, UK; from Öri Ágnes of Jobbágyi, Nógrád, Hungary; from Pentti Arpalahti of Helsinki, Finland; from Mikko Peussa of Turku, Rusko, Finland
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STERLING SILVER RAINBOW DRAGONFLY (GOLDEN HEART): Are you looking for a far-out gift? Consider a rainbow dragonfly from the edge of space. On June 3, 2022, 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 golden Celtic love knot, and its wings are decorated with a spray of rainbow-colored crystals. 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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