WHAT IS BLUEWALKER 3? On Sept. 7th, SpaceX will launch an unusual satellite: BlueWalker 3. Designed to supply 4G cell phone signals from space, Bluewalker 3 will unfurl a large, bright antenna spanning 64 square meters. Satellite observers are keenly interested to see how it looks in the night sky. Stay tuned.
A STRANGELY MAGNETIZED SUNSPOT: New sunspot AR3088 is emerging in the sun's southern hemisphere. Its magnetic field is not normal:
Shown above is a map of magnetic fields on the sun. AR3088 is inset. According to Hale's Law, the sunspot's magnetic poles should be arranged +/-, that is, positive (+) on the left and negative (-) on the right. Instead, they are rotated 90 degrees; positive (+) is on top and negative (-) is on the bottom.
This is a rare "perpendicular sunspot," with magnetic poles orthogonal to the sun's equator. What's going on? Something unusual may be happening to the sun's magnetic dynamo beneath the surface where this sunspot is growing. We'll keep an eye on AR3088 to see what happens next. Solar flare alerts: SMS Text
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AURORAS AND NOCTILUCENT CLOUDS: Seasons are changing. Northern summer is coming to an end as autumn approaches. Laura Kranich photographed the transition on Aug. 23rd from Örträsk, Sweden:
"I saw some green auroras in the ongoing midnight twilight," says Kranich. "Soon after, I also discovered noctilucent clouds (NLCs) very close to the horizon."
At Arctic latitudes, this mixture can only be observed at the boundary between seasons. NLCs fade near the end of summer, while auroras regain visibility vs. the waning Midnight Sun. For a few weeks they overlap. "It might be the last time this year we see the two together," says Kranich.
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A BEAGLE AT THE EDGE OF SPACE: Snoopy has been to the stratosphere. On July 16th, the students of Earth to Sky Calculus launched everyone's favorite Beagle onboard a cosmic ray research balloon. Here is astronaut Snoopy floating more than 105,315 feet above Earth's surface:
You can have it for $99.95. It's Peanuts for a cup from space! The students are selling Snoopy cups to support their cosmic ray monitoring program. Each one comes with a greeting card showing the cup in flight and telling the story of its trip to the stratosphere and back again.
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