NEW SUNSPOTS: A pair of new sunspot groups is emerging near the sun's southeastern limb: movie. One of them is potentially large and could pose a threat for flares as it turns toward Earth later this week. Solar flare alerts: SMS Text
SPACE-BASED DETECTION OF NOCTILUCENT CLOUDS: Since NASA's AIM spacecraft stopped working earlier this year, sky watchers have been hoping for another spacecraft to help them track noctilucent clouds (NLCs). We've got it. The NOAA-21 satellite is now monitoring NLCs and reporting results to the general public.
This animation shows the rapid spread of NLCs over the North Pole since the 2023 season started on May 26th. Each dot is a cloud detected by the OMPS Limb Profiler instrument onboard NOAA-21. As the season progresses, these dots will multiply in number and shift in hue from blue to red as the clouds thicken.
NLCs are clouds of frosted meteor smoke. They form every year in summer when wisps of sunwarmed water vapor rise up to the edge of space. At altitudes greater than 80 km, the water crystallizes around disintegrated meteoroids, forming electric-blue structures visible in the night sky.
The original goal of OMPS was to make precision measurements of ozone, but it has proven useful for much more. Over time, the instrument's capabilities expanded to include smoke from wildfires and ash from volcanoes. Noctilucent clouds are its latest catch.
In 2020, Matt DeLand and Nick Gorkavyi of Science Systems and Applications, Inc. published a paper showing how OMPS data nicely match NLCs imaged by NASA's AIM spacecraft:
"OMPS LP stares backwards from the spacecraft at the atmospheric limb of the Earth," explains DeLand. "It measures light scattered by small ice crystals that make up the clouds."
In the northern hemisphere, noctilucent cloud season runs from June to August. The clouds brighten and become most widespread usually around the summer solstice, with sightings in recent years as far south as Spain and southern California.
Readers can track the progress of the clouds using daily maps from NOAA-21 right here on Spaceweather.com.
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RARE MR. SPOCK WINE STOPPER: You can't buy this on Amazon--or anywhere else. Only the Earth to Sky Store has the rare Mr. Spock Wine Stopper. On Dec. 17, 2022, this handcrafted resin bottle stopper flew to the stratosphere onboard an Earth to Sky Calculus cosmic ray research balloon:
You can have it for $170.10 (the serial number of the Enterprise divided by 10). This collector’s item comes with a gift card showing the stopper in flight and telling the story of its trip to the edge of space and back again.
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