THE FULL MOON: There's a full Moon tonight, and according to folklore it has a special name: The "Buck Moon." A better name this year might be "Fire Moon." Smoke from Canada is circling the globe, tinting moonrises with the color of wildfire. Look east at sunset for the Fire Moon rising. [photo gallery]
SUNSPOT COUNTS HIT A 21-YEAR HIGH: The sun is partying like it's 2002. That's the last time sunspot counts were as high as they are now. The monthly average sunspot number for June 2023 was 163, according to the Royal Observatory of Belgium's Solar Influences Data Analysis Center. This eclipses every month since Sept. 2022:
Above: This plot is based on NOAA's interactive Solar Cycle Progression. Check it out!
Solar Cycle 25 wasn't expected to be this strong. When it began in Dec. 2019, forecasters believed it would be a weak cycle akin to its immediate predecessor Solar Cycle 24. If that forecast had panned out, Solar Cycle 25 would be one of the weakest solar cycles in a century.
Instead, Solar Cycle 25 has shot past Solar Cycle 24 and may be on pace to rival some of the stronger cycles of the 20th century. The last time sunspot numbers were this high, the sun was on the verge of launching the Great Halloween Storms of 2003, which included the strongest X-ray solar flare ever recorded (X45), auroras as far south as Texas, and a CME so powerful it was ultimately detected by the Voyager spacecraft at the edge of the solar system.
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X-FLARE AND RADIO BLACKOUT (UPDATED): 'Tis the season for fireworks. On July 2nd (2314 UT), giant sunspot AR3354 exploded, producing a long duration X1-class solar flare. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) recorded the extreme ultraviolet flash:
Radiation from the flare ionized the top of Earth's atmosphere. This caused a deep shortwave radio blackout over western parts of USA and the Pacific Ocean: map. Mariners and ham radio operators may have noticed loss of signal and other propagation effects for 30+ minutes after the flare.
Although the explosion lasted long enough to lift a CME out of the sun's atmosphere, it did not. SOHO coronagraph images show no sign of a significant CME.
The genesis of this flare is interesting and possibly unusual. A 304 Å movie from SDO shows what happened:
The sunspot didn't explode on its own. It got help from a plume of plasma curling over the sun's limb. Hot magnetized gas landing on the sunspot seems to have triggered the blast. Solar flare alerts: SMS Text
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LASER-ETCHED MOON CUBE: Last week, the students of Earth to Sky Calculus launched a cosmic ray balloon to the stratosphere. This unique laser-etched Moon cube went along for the ride, ascending to an altitude of 101,140 feet:
You can have it for $119.95. The students are selling these cubes as a fund-raiser for their cosmic ray ballooning program. It's an authentic representation of the Moon, with all of the craters, mountains and lava plains accurately portrayed.
The Moon-cube comes with a unique gift card showing the item floating at the top of Earth's atmosphere. The interior of the card tells the story of the flight and confirms that this gift has been to the edge of space and back again.
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