GEOMAGNETIC STORM WATCH (G1): 2024 could begin with a geomagnetic storm. NOAA forecasters say that G1-class storms are possible on Jan. 1st when a co-rotating interaction regioon (CIR) is expected to hit Earth's magnetic field. CIRs are transition zones between fast- and slow-moving solar wind streams. They contain CME-like shock waves that do a good job sparking auroras. Aurora alerts: SMS Text
DESERT ICE HALOS: You don't have to travel to the Arctic Circle to find ice in the air. Arizona has it, too. Yesterday, Scott Tucker looked up from the desert outside Tucson and saw multiple ice halos around the sun:
"The heck with freezing in Scandinavia," says Tucker. "I can get a nice halo display here in Arizona when the temperature is 70 degrees."
How can there be ice in the air when the temperature is so far above freezing? Actually, cirrus clouds floating over the warm desert are freezing. Kilometers above the desert floor, millions of ice crystals caught the rays of Arizona's winter sun, producing a 22-degree halo, a pair of sundogs, and a "rainbow-smile" circumzenithal arc.
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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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