MINOR GEOMAGNETIC STORM WATCH: NOAA forecasters say that a CME might graze Earth's magnetic field on July 1st. It was launched into space three days ago by an erupting magnetic filament in the sun's northern hemisphere. The glancing blow, if it occurs, could spark a minor G1-class geomagnetic storm. Aurora alerts: SMS Text
THE EVERSHED EFFECT: Giant sunspot AR3354 is so big, it's revealing things too small to see in lesser active regions. For example, today in Romania, astronomers Maximilian Teodorescu witnessed the Evershed Effect:
Note how matter streams radially out of the sunspot's core along penumbral filaments--that's the Evershed Effect. "It was fascinating to watch," says Teodorescu.
British astronomer John Evershed discovered the phenomenon in 1909 while he was working at the Kodaikanal Solar Observatory in India. The government of India later made a postage stamp to celebrate it. More than 100 years later researchers still aren't certain what causes the Evershed Effect. A leading theory holds that material is being siphoned out of the sunspot through magnetic flux tubes much like a milkshake sucked out of a straw.
The animation above is only a fraction of what Teodorescu saw. The full field of view shows the Evershed Effect happening around the entire circumference of the sunspot.
more images: from Stuart Green of Preston, Lancashire, UK; from Francisco A. Rodriguez of Vega de San Mateo, Gran Canaria, Canary Islands; from Mahdi Rahimi of Esfan, Iran; from Michael Karrer of Austria
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WHERE NO MUG HAS GONE BEFORE (COLLECTOR'S ITEM): You can't buy this on Amazon. Only the Earth to Sky Store has the rare James T. Kirk Coffee Mug. Like the captain of the Enterprise, it has been to space:
On April 23rd, this 16 oz. ceramic mug featuring the face of WIlliam Shatnerflew to the stratosphere onboard an Earth to Sky Calculus cosmic ray balloon. At the apex of the flight, it floated 97,438 feet above the Sierra Nevada mountains of central California.
You can have it for $170.10 (the serial number of the Enterprise divided by 10). It comes with a greeting card showing the mug in flight and telling the story of its journey to the edge of space and back again.
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