EARTH-DIRECTED EXPLOSION (UPDATED): A magnetic filament on the sun erupted during the late hours of Aug. 30th, opening a "canyon of fire" in the sun's northern hemisphere. New coronagraph images from SOHO show a faint halo CME en route to Earth (movie). A NASA model of the CME predicts it will hit our planet on Sept. 2nd, possibly sparking G1-class geomagnetic storms. Aurora alerts: SMS Text
THE BLUE SUPERMOON: Spoiler alert: It wasn't blue. Last night's perigean supermoon wowed observers around the world with 15% more luminosity than an ordinary full Moon. The family of Ali Rahimi witnessed the super moonrise from Isfahan, Iran:
"This shot took some planning," says Rahimi. "My father, my uncle and my cousin's son joined me on a hillside to observe the Moon, while my camera snapped the picture from 900 meters away."
As in many other photos we've received, the full Moon was reddened by scattering in Earth's atmosphere. Folklore deemed it "blue," however, because it was the second full Moon in a calendar month. The only time a full Moon actually turns blue is just after a volcanic eruption or when viewed through certain forest fires. Red is better.
more images: from Michel Benvenuto of Nice, France; from Paolo Bardelli of Sumirago (Varese), Italy; from Chris Cook of Seal Beach, California; from Dewey Vanderhoff of Cody, Wyoming
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WHO NEEDS A SOLAR FLARE? The sun did not flare on Aug. 23rd, and there was no geomagnetic storm. Nevertheless, rural skies in Europe filled with a green aurora-like glow. Sylvain Chapeland sends this picture from the south of France:
"I spent a week stargazing in the mountains and enjoyed excellent observing conditions," says Chapeland. "On the last night I noticed significant airglow. I never saw before such bright green airglow in all directions."
It might look like aurora, but it is not. Green airglow is produced by photochemistry in Earth's upper atmosphere. Approximately 95 km above Earth's surface, there is a layer of air where oxygen atoms (O) and oxygen molecules (O2) co-exist. When O bumps into O2, the collision creates a spark of green light--airglow.
Solar Max is boosting this process. Higher-than-normal UV radiation from the active sun is heating Earth's upper atmosphere, increasing the rate of O vs. O2 collisions. The resulting airglow may be observed on very dark nights from anywhere on Earth. It is often invisible to the naked eye, but an easy target for digital cameras with nighttime exposures. Got a picture? Submit it here.
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18K GOLD CUPID'S COMPASS: Are you looking for a romantic gift? Consider Cupid's Compass. This premuim 18K gold-filled pendant flew to the stratosphere on Jan. 6th onboard an Earth to Sky Calculus cosmic ray research balloon:
You can have it for $259.95. Engraved with the words "I'd be lost without you", the hypoallergenic pendant has a 5-star cubic zirconia crystal in the middle surrounded by a ring of equally high-grade 5A cubic zirconia nuggets. It is a visually striking pendant that makes a once-in-a-lifetime Valentine's, anniversary or birthday gift.
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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All sales support hands-on STEM education
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