INCREASING CHANCE OF FLARES: Big sunspot AR3153 has developed an unstable delta-class magnetic field that harbors energy for strong explosions. NOAA forecasters say there is a 25% chance of M-class solar flares and a 5% chance of X-flares today. Solar flare alerts: SMS Text.
MAUNA LOA IS CHANGINGTHE SKY: On the Big Island of Hawaii, the world's largest active volcano is putting on a show. Mauna Loa has been erupting for days, with lava shooting as high as 150 feet on Tuesday. Tourists are flying in from all over the world to watch.
The sky is changing, too. One volcano away from Mauna Loa, the Gemini Observatory cloud camera on Mauna Kea is recording the effect of the eruption on the heavens.
Gemini cloudcam image found and processed by Frankie Lucena
This snapshot shows a light pillar, which appeared on the first night of the eruption (Nov. 27th). Ice crystals in the air above the volcano caught the light from the primary vent, spreading the glare into a vertical beam.
Where did the ice crystals come from? Probably from an ordinary cirrus cloud, which happened to be floating by when Mauna Loa erupted. There is another possibility, however. The volcano itself spewed water vapor into the air, freezing when it reached cirrus cloud-altitudes. If so, Mauna Loa provided both the light and the ice.
Amateur astronomer Frankie Lucena has been monitoring Gemini cloudcam footage since Mauna Loa blew its top. On Dec. 1st he caught this fireball:
The volcano didn't create the meteor, but it did surround it with the hue of lava. Mauna Loa's glow is turning the night sky red. The mechanism may involve the scattering of light from volcanic smog, or vog, a visible haze created when sulfur dioxide (SO2) and other emissions chemically interact with sunlight and atmospheric oxygen.
More sky phenomena may be in the offing. According to the USGS, Pele's hair (strands of volcanic glass) fragments are being wafted great distances from the volcano's vent, while approximately 180,000 tons of sulfur dioxide (SO2) are entering the atmosphere every day. Got a picture? Submit it here.
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