WEAK CME FAILS TO CAUSE A STORM: As predicted, a CME hit Earth on July 14th (1633 UT). The weak impact (data) disturbed Earth's magnetic field for a few hours but failed to spark a full-fledged geomagnetic storm. No bright auroras have been reported. Aurora alerts: SMS Text
A DARK ERUPTION ON THE SUN (UPDATED): One of the most visually dramatic eruptions of Solar Cycle 25 occured yesterday, July 14th, when a spray of dark plasma flew away from the sun's southern hemosphere. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory recorded the event:
The explosion started in the magnetic canopy of AR3370, a small and previously unremarkable sunspot. X-ray sensors on Earth-orbiting satellites registered a C8.8-class solar flare at 1844 UT just before the dark ejecta appeared. What made it "dark"? It's not made of dark matter. Instead, plasma hurled away from the sunspot was relatively cool and dense, so it silhouetted the glow of the underlying sun.
At first we thought this explosion certainly must have hurled a CME toward Earth. However, newly arriving images from SOHO coronagraphs do *not* show a significant CME--and perhaps no CME at all. Solar flare alerts: SMS Text
THIS SUNSPOT IS BLOWING BUBBLES: Big sunspot AR3363 has an inky-black core wide enough to swallow Earth. What is going on in there? On July 11th, a Dutch astronomer nicknamed "Neo" decided to take a closer look, and this is what he saw:
"I captured a phenomenon called 'umbral flashes,'" says New. "Rapid bubbling from the depths of the Umbra is shown in this timelapse movie, which I created from 11 minutes of raw video."
The umbra of a sunspot is its dark central core. It is where magnetic fields are so intense, incandescent heat from the underlying sun is bottled up and prevented from reaching the surface. That is why sunspot umbras look dark.
Yet they are not completely dark. Professional astronomers have long known that flashes of light and popping bubbles can be seen in sunspot cores. These events are not fully understood. One theory holds that gas from the sun's atmosphere falls into the umbra. When it reaches the "floor" of the sunspot, the gas rebounds, forming luminous shockwaves that observers describe as "umbral flashes."
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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.
Far Out Gifts: Earth to Sky Store
All sales support hands-on STEM education
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