EARTH-DIRECTED CME (UPDATED): A magnetic filament in the sun's southern hemisphere erupted on July 11th (movie #1) and hurled a CME toward Earth (movie #2). According to a NASA model, most of the CME will sail south of our planet, but not all. The northern flank will likely strike our planet's magnetic field during the late hours of July 14th possibly causing a G1-class geomagnetic storm. Aurora alerts: SMS Text
A HYPERACTIVE SUNSPOT: New sunspot AR3372 is seething with activity. In the last 24 hours alone it has produced eight M-class solar flares (graph) To the extreme ultraviolet telescopes onboard NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory, it looks like the northeastern limb of the sun is on fire:
The rat-a-tat-tat of solar flares from AR3372 is causing a rolling series of shortwave radio blackouts around all longitudes of our planet. Ham radio operators, mariners and aviators may have noticed loss of signal below 30 MHz on multiple occasions since July 11th. In addition, episodes of sudden ionization in the atmosphere are doppler-shifting the frequency of time-standard radio stations such as Canada's CHU and America's WWV (data).
If current trends continue, we should expect more strong M-class flares during the next 24 hours with a chance of X-flares as well. This sunspot will become even more geoeffective in the days ahead as it continues to turn toward Earth. Solar flare alerts: SMS Text
HAVE YOU SEEN YOUR VENUS SHADOW? When the sun goes down tonight, step outside and face west. Venus is dazzling in the evening twilight. According to JPL's Horizons ephemeris, Venus's brightness is peaking this week at magnitude -4.71, almost 200 times brighter than a 1st magnitude star. It's so bright, it's casting shadows:
Tenho Tuomi of Lucky Lake, Saskatchewan, took this picture in Sept. 2007 when Venus was about as bright as it is now. "Venus projected the shadow of my telescope on the house wall," he recalls. "I captured the effect with a 6-minute exposure at ISO 800."
To experience your own Venus shadow, chose a dark place--very dark--far away from city lights. Go there just after sunset. Let your eyes fully dark-adapt as the silvery light of the Evening Star illuminates your face. Now turn around. What do you see?
Bonus: Got a backyard telescope? Point it at Venus. Like the Moon, Venus has phases, and at the moment it is a beautifully slender crescent. Take a look!
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"ALWAYS AND FOREVER" SPACE PENDANT: Are you looking for a far-out gift? Consider the Always and Forever Space Pendent. The students of Earth to Sky Calculus launched it to the stratosphere onboard a cosmic ray research balloon:
You can have it for $199.95. Engraved with the words "I love you always and forever," this 18K gold-plated pendant has a heart-shaped citrine crystal in the middle surrounded by a ring of glittering 5A cubic zirconia nuggets. It is a visually striking premium space pendant.
The students are selling space pendants to pay the helium bill for their cosmic ray ballooning program. Each one comes with a greeting card showing the jewelry in flight and telling the story of its trip to the stratosphere and back again.
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