EARTH-DIRECTED CME (UPDATED): Today, coronagraphs onboard the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) detected a halo CME leaving the sun. It is heading straight for Earth. NOAA and NASA models agree that the CME should arrive during the late hours of Nov. 11th (UT), bringing a chance of G2-class geomagnetic storms. Aurora alerts: SMS Text
LUNAR OCCULTATION OF VENUS: Venus and the Moon just had a beautiful close encounter. This morning in Europe, sky watchers witnessed a lunar occultation of the second planet. At the Institute of Space Science in Romania, astronomer Maximilian Teodorescu used an ultraviolet filter to take this composite picture of Venus disappearing behind the Moon's limb:
Teodorescu used a Baader UV filter hoping to catch some photogenic structure in Venus's cloudtops. In doing so, he photographed a mystery.
Seen through an ordinary backyard telescope, Venus seems bland, a featureless, cloud-covered orb about as interesting as a billiard ball. But if that same telescope is fitted with an ultraviolet filter, Venus' clouds transform themselves into a tiger's coat of fast-moving dark bands.
The bands are the mystery. Some unknown substance within them strongly absorbs UV light, accounting for almost half of the solar energy trapped by Venus. Whatever is in there, it plays a big role in maintaining Venus' hellish climate; the average temperature on the surface is about 460° Celsius.
Astronomers have been studying the bands since Mariner 10 spotted them in the 1970s, but half-a-century later no one knows the identity of the "UV absorbers." Candidates range from gaseous chlorine and sulfur compounds to alien life using UV radiation as a source of energy.
Whatever they are, the bands are undeniably pretty. "I believe they add a bit of depth to the view--something similar to the famous Apollo images of Earthrise from behind the Moon," says Teodorescu.
More pictures of the occultation may be found in the Realtime Venus Photo Gallery.
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THIS IS NOT A FLYING SAUCER: For a few milliseconds last Sunday night, Nov. 5th, an enormous ring of red light appeared over the Carribbean. Frankie Lucena photographed it from Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico:
This is an "ELVE"--short for Emissions of Light and Very Low Frequency Perturbations due to Electromagnetic Pulse Sources. It's a rare species of sprite discovered in 1990 by cameras onboard the space shuttle.
"The ELVE was generated by intense lightning in a thunderstorm 725 km south of me," says Lucena. One bolt was so strong, it generated an intense electromagnetic pulse (EMP). The red ring marks the spot where the EMP hit Earth's ionosphere. Normal lightning bolts carry 10 to 30 kilo-ampères of current; this bolt was 244 kilo-ampères, about 10 times stronger than normal.
Lucena also made a video of the ELVE. Watch it on Youtube.
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VOYAGER GOLDEN RECORD CHRISTMAS ORNAMENT: This is a must-have Christmas ornament for space fans: The Voyager Golden Record. On Oct. 31, 2023, the students of Earth to Sky Calculus launched it to the stratosphere onboard a cosmic ray research balloon:
You can have it for $99.95. The 3-inch aluminum disk is imprinted with instructions intended for extraterrestrials, telling them how to play the phonographs now sailing through interstellar space onboard NASA's Voyager probes. Having touched the edge of space, it's the closest thing on Earth to an actual Golden Record.
The students are selling these unique ornaments to support their cosmic ray ballooning program. Each one comes with a greeting card showing the ornament in flight and extra materials decoding the markings on the disk.
Far Out Gifts: Earth to Sky Store
All sales support hands-on STEM education
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