PERSEID METEOR SHOWER: Earth has entered a stream of debris from Comet Swift-Tuttle, source of the annual Perseid meteor shower. We're only in the outskirts of the stream now, but already Perseid fireballs are streaking across the night sky. The shower will peak in bright moonlight on Aug. 12-13 when Earth touches the densest part of the debris zone: observing tips.
HOT RIBBONS IN THE SKY: During yesterday's surprise geomagnetic storm, hot ribbons of plasma flowed through Earth's magnetosphere. Alan Dyer saw one of them near Gleichen, Alberta:
The name of this phenomenon is "STEVE"--short for Strong Thermal Emission Velocity Enhancement. It was also sighted in Montana and Pennsylvania.
"We had a superb showing of STEVE over southern Alberta," says Dyer. "The ribbon stretched across the entire sky, peaking in intensity around 12:30 am MDT"
STEVE is a recent discovery. It looks like an aurora, but it is not. The purple glow is caused by hot (3000°C) ribbons of gas flowing through Earth’s magnetosphere at speeds exceeding 6 km/s (13,000 mph). It appears during some geomagnetic storms, often alongside a type of green aurora known as the "picket fence," also shown in Dyer's photo.
more images: from Jacob Eubank of Whitefish, Montana; from Sujay Singh of Wayne County, Pennsylvania;
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COSMIC RAY YIN-YANG PENDANT: To celebrate the yin-yang relationship between solar activity and galactic cosmic rays, the students of Earth to Sky Calculus just launched a yin-yang pendant to the stratosphere. On July 23rd, it flew 104,265 ft high onboard a cosmic ray research balloon:
You can have it for $133.95. The pendant's sterling silver frame surrounds balancing swirls of black onyx and mother of pearl--all suspended from a matching 18-inch sterling silver chain. It makes a great anniversary, birthday or (never too early!) Christmas gift.
The students are selling yin-yang 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 journey to the edge of space and back again.
Far Out Gifts: Earth to Sky Store
All sales support hands-on STEM education
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