GLANCING-BLOW CME DUE TODAY: NOAA forecasters say that a CME might deliver a glancing blow to Earth's magnetic field today. It left the sun on April 7th, propelled an an erupting filament of magnetism. Minor geomagnetic storms are possible if/when the CME arrives. Aurora alerts: SMS Text.
CRYOVOLCANIC ERUPTION ON COMET 29P: Over the years, astronomers have observed hundreds of cryovolcanic eruptions on Comet 29P/Schwassmann-Wachmann. Icy gases burst out of the comet's crust at unpredictable times, multiplying its size and brightness 10-fold or more. "I just photographed gases expanding from a strong eruption on April 2nd," says Pepe Manteca of Begues, Catalunya, Spain:
"This comet is so interesting!" he says.
Out of all the eruptions researchers have seen, this one may be different. Why? Because they predicted it.
"We have been watching 29P especially closely because [on April 1st] the pseudo-nucleus became very faint indicative of the crust sealing and preventing outgassing," says Dr. Richard Miles of the British Astronomical Association (BAA). "It was the faintest we had ever seen it."
Miles and colleagues considered an eruption to be "highly likely" and, indeed, the comet erupted while they watched. It blew like a cork popping from a champagne bottle. Astronomers Maria Eleftheriou and Jose Manuel Perez Redondo caught the eruption in progress on April 2nd using the 2.0-m Faulkes Telescope South. Pepe Manteca's photo shows the debris one week later.
Amateur astronomers who wish to help monitor this eruption can find 29P in the constellation Gemini, right here.
more images: from Andrea Aletti and Federico Bellini of G.V. Schiaparelli Observatory, Campo dei Fiori Mount, Varese - Italy
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WHERE NO MUG HAS GONE BEFORE: There's nothing like morning coffee in a cup from space. See for yourself with a rare ceramic Capt. Kirk mug. This one flew to the stratosphere onboard an Earth to Sky Calculus cosmic ray balloon, floating 97,438 feet above the Sierra Nevada mountains of central California:
You can have it for $170.10. That's the serial number of the Enterprise divided by 10. The students are selling Star Trek mugs to support their cosmic ray ballooning program. Each one holds 16 oz. of steaming hot Raktajino (Klingon coffee) and comes with a greeting card showing the collector's item in flight.
Far Out Gifts: Earth to Sky Store
All sales support hands-on STEM education
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