THE BASTILLE DAY EVENT--HELP NEEDED: Almost 22 years ago, one of the biggest solar storms of the Space Age hit Earth. The "Bastille Day Event" of July 14-16, 2000, damaged satellites and sparked auroras as far south as Mexico. We're going to write an anniversary story about this event, and we need your help. Got an aurora photo from the storm? Submit it here. Also, if you have a Bastille Day anecdote, please share it with Dr. Tony Phillips.
ACTIVE SUN: Spoiler alert: Something on the sun is about to explode. "There is an incredible-looking sunspot crossing the center of the solar disk and a new large dark core has just appeared on the limb," reports Illinois astronomer Apollo Lasky, who photographed the seething starscape:
The active regions in Lasky's video are mostly new. They either appeared for the first time or ballooned in size from an existiing spot over the weekend. One of them, sunspot AR3055, is truly awesome, stretching more than 100,000 km from end to end with more than a dozen dark cores. It is almost directly facing Earth, and poses a threat for strong flares.
To make the video, Lasky capped his telescope with a solar filter tuned to the glow of ionized calcium (CaK). CaK filters are excellent detectors of "sunspot froth"--the bubbly, turbulent sea of magnetism that surrounds active sunspot groups. Every sunspot in the video is surrounded. Solar flare alerts: SMS Text.
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"I LOVE YOU MORE" OPAL: Nothing says "I love you" like jewelry from space. On June 3, 2022, this sterling silver opal pendant hitched a ride on an Earth to Sky Calculus cosmic ray research balloon. At the apex of the flight it floated 101,326 feet above the Sierra Nevada mountains of central California:
You can have it for $142.95. The opal's infinity wrap is engraved with "I Love You More." It's the perfect birthday, anniversary or (never too early!) Christmas gift for that special someone who loves space. Each pendant comes with a greeting card showing the pendant in flight and telling the story of its trip to the stratosphere and back.
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