SpaceWeather.com Archive — Sun, Oct 15, 2023

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THE FORECAST CALLS FOR QUIET: With no CMEs heading for Earth and no solar flares in the offing, the forecast calls for quiet. Solar and geomagnetic activity should remain low for the rest of the weekend. Solar flare alerts: SMS Text

COLANDERS AREN'T JUST FOR PASTA: Picture this: You just found out there's going to be a solar eclipse and--oh no!--you can't find your eclipse glasses. No problem. Just grab a colander. Steve Lee of Lovington, New Mexico, held one up to the sky on Oct 14th and created two hundred tiny images of the eclipsed sun:

Colanders make excellent eclipse projectors. Each hole in the pasta strainer acts like a pinhole camera, beaming an image of the sun onto any convenient screen. It's like an insect with compound eyes--an insect that did not lose its eclipse glasses.

The images on Lee's sidewalk look like donuts because that's how the sun looked at the time. An annular eclipse was underway, and the Moon was dead-center in front of the solar disk. 32,000 feet overhead, Derek Gallion photographed the "ring of fire" from his window seat on a flight passing by Albuquerque:

"We were passing through the path of annularity, so I held eclipse glasses in front of my phone to snap a picture," says Gallion. "It turned out pretty well!"

Pictures of the eclipse taken using colanders, leafy trees, mirrors, vintage cameras and modern cell phones are still pouring in from every corner of the Americas. Browse the Realtime Solar Eclipse Gallery for the latest, and if you have a picture, please submit it here.

Realtime Solar Eclipse Photo Gallery
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SOLAR SYSTEM CRYSTAL BALL: Are you looking for a far-out gift? Consider the Solar System Crystal Ball. Watch the video as the orb travels to the stratosphere onboard an Earth to Sky Calculus cosmic ray balloon, stretching and inverting the incredible landscape of the Sierra Nevada mountains behind it:

You can have it for $229.95. The students are selling these crystal balls to pay for their cosmic ray ballooning program. The 800 gram sphere contains a model of the Solar System, including the sun, eight planets and their moons. It makes an incredible gift for anyone interested in space.

Each one comes with a unique gift card showing the item at the edge of space and telling the story of its flight. All proceeds support Earth to Sky Calculus and hands-on STEM research.