ALMOST NO CHANCE OF FLARES TODAY: There are six sunspots on the sun today, a relatively large number. However, all of them have stable, quiet magnetic fields unlikely to explode. NOAA forecasters say there is a 5% chance of M-class flares and no more than a 1% chance of X-flares on July 27th. Solar flare alerts: SMS Text.
COZY CAVES ON THE MOON: The Moon is a harsh mistress: During the day temperatures soar to a scorching 260 F, then plummet to minus 280 F at night. However, NASA's Lunar Reconnaisance Orbiter (LRO) may have discovered places without these extremes. The temperature inside this lunar pit hovers around a comfortable 63 F:
Pits were first discovered on the Moon in 2009, and since then, scientists have wondered if they led to caves that could be used as shelters from cosmic rays, solar radiation and micrometeorites.
The pits are thought to be sections of collapsed lava tubes. Also found on Earth, lava tubes form when a crust forms over a river of lava, leaving a long, hollow tunnel. If the ceiling of a solidified lava tube collapses, it opens a pit that can lead into the cave-like tube.
A new study published earlier this month described how researchers used LRO's thermal camera named "Diviner" to peer inside some lunar pits, with a special focus on a football-field-sized pit in the Sea of Tranquillity. The temperature they found in permanently shadowed areas fluctuated only slightly throughout the lunar day, remaining at around 63 F. If a cave extends from the bottom of the pit, as images suggest, it too would have this relatively comfortable temperature.
"Humans evolved living in caves, and to caves we might return when we live on the Moon," says David Paige, a co-author of the paper from UCLA.
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"I LOVE YOU MORE" MOONSTONE PENDANT: Nothing says "I love you" like a moonstone from space. On May 26th, this sterling silver moonstone pendant hitched a ride to the stratosphere on an Earth to Sky Calculus cosmic ray balloon. Here it is floating 112,201 feet above the Sierra Nevada mountains of central California:
You can have it for $142.95. The students are selling these pendants to support their cosmic ray ballooning program. Engraved with "I Love You More," it makes a great anniversary, birthday or (never too early!) Christmas gift. Each pendant comes with a greeting card showing the moonstone in flight and telling the story of its trip to the stratosphere and back again.
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