MINOR GEOMAGNETIC STORM WATCH: Minor G1-class geomagnetic storms are possible on Dec. 27th when multiple CMEs launched two days ago might graze Earth's magnetic field. Misses are equally likely as hits, so this is a low-confidence forecast. CME impact alerts: SMS Text
A SUNSPOT BIG ENOUGH TO SEE FROM MARS: Every day, NASA's Mars Perseverence rover looks at the sun to check the air for dust. It just saw a large sunspot:
Perseverance's images of the sun come from its MASTCAM (stereo mast camera), which puts about 90 pixels across the solar disk. It takes a large sunspot to show up in these low-resolution images. Today's sunspot is a behemoth, measuring at least 200,000 km from end to end.
Because Mars is orbiting over the farside of the sun, Perseverance can see approaching sunspots more than a week before we do. Consider this your 1-week warning: A really big sunspot is coming. Solar flare alerts: SMS Text
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LOOKING DOWN FROM THE WINDOW SEAT: Holiday travel is a great time for sky watching. Except instead of looking up, look down! On Dec. 21st, Mike LeFevre was in the window seat of a plane flying between Las Vegas and Boise when he witnessed this display below the wing:
"We were flying above the clouds, more than 30,000 feet high," says LeFevre. "I saw a nice lower sun pillar in the clouds and, looking further down, it was easy to see the V-shaped lower tangent arc."
These are ice halos that have well-known counterparts often seen from ground level: Sun pillars and upper tangent arcs. Their lower versions reveal themselves only to observers above the clouds. If you are flying this week, grab a window seat and take a look!
AMBER DRAGONFLY SPACE PENDANT: This dragonfly has touched space. On Nov. 28th, the students of Earth to Sky Calculus launched it to the stratosphere onboard a cosmic ray research balloon, 109,228 feet above California's Sierra Nevada:
You can have it for $179.95. Made of genuine Baltic Amber with a sterling silver exoskeleton, the pendant measures 1 1/4 inch and comes with a matching 18-inch sterling silver chain. The wings of the dragonfly include four pieces of natural amber colored Cognac, Olive Green and Honey Yellow.
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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