THE FORECAST CALLS FOR QUIET: Hyperactive sunspot AR3561, which peppered Earth with dozens of solar flares last week, is now exhausted. The active region has almost-completely stopped flaring and, as a result, this weekend is expected to be quiet. Solar flare alerts: SMS Text
RARE AURORA CURLS: Regular readers may recall how we have occasionally reported on magnetic sine waves rippling through Earth's magnetic field, causing the magnetosphere to ring like a bell. On Jan. 16th, Jeff Dai looked up and actually saw one of those waves over the Kerid Crater in Iceland:
"I captured this rare image of 'aurora curls," says Dai. "They rippled across the zenith for several minutes."
Dai, who is vacationing in Iceland from China, asked Xing-Yu Li of Peking University's Institute of Space Physics and Applied Technology for help in understanding the aurora curls. "Imagine that Earth's magnetic field is like a guitar string," says Li. "In Jeff Dai's picture we are seeing vibrations in that string." Their wavelength, Li estimates, is several kilometers.
Normally this kind of magnetic pulsation is seen only as a squiggle on a chart recorder. In this case, however, energetic particles from space flowed down the rippling geomagnetic field, causing it to glow with auroral light and write the wave across the night sky. It was a very rare sighting, indeed.
Realtime Aurora Photo Gallery
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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.
Far Out Gifts: Earth to Sky Store
All sales support hands-on STEM education
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