GEOMAGNETIC STORM WATCH--CANCELLED: A series of off-target CMEs emitted by departing sunspot AR3664 has missed Earth. As a result, today's minor geomagnetic storm watch has been cancelled. Aurora alerts: SMS Text
THE FLARES WILL CONTINUE UNTIL MORALE IMPROVES: A new source of solar flares is emerging over the sun's southeastern limb. Today at 1438 UT, it emitted a dramatic X3-class explosion, shown here in a movie from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory:
Extreme ultraviolet radiation from the flare ionized the top of Earth's atmosphere, causing a shortwave radio blackout over the Atlantic Ocean. Ham radio operators, aviators and mariners may have noticed a sudden loss of signal at all frequencies below 30 MHz.
The source of this flare will rotate over the sun's limb this week, making future explosions more squarely Earth-directed and potentially hurling CMEs in our direction. Stay tuned! Solar flare alerts: SMS Text
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AURORAS OVER THE GRAND CANYON: You know a solar storm is big when ... it produces auroras over the Grand Canyon. Brian A. Klimowski photographed the rare display on May 11, 2024:
"This was just the afterglow of a more intense G5 storm on May 10th, but still so beautiful over the Canyon!" says Klimowski .
Geologists say that the Colorado River has been carving the Grand Canyon for 5 or 6 million years. No one knows how often auroras have been seen during that time. This is what we do know: The auroras of May 10-11, 2024, were among the most widespread of the past 500 years. We will be writing a story about that in a few days. Meanwhile, browse the gallery for more.
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18K GOLD TOTAL ECLIPSE PENDANT: This pendant has touched the shadow of the Moon. On April 8, 2024, during a total eclipse of the sun in Texas, the students of Earth to Sky Calculus launched it to the stratosphere onboard a cosmic ray research balloon. Floating more than 118,110 feet high, the locket spent 3 minutes and 45 seconds wrapped in lunar shadow:
You can have it for $199.95. The 18K gold-plated locket is inscribed with the words "I love you to the Moon and back," and opens to hold a personal photo or other small item. It comes with a greeting card showing the locket in flight and telling the story of its journey to the edge of space during the total eclipse.
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