NOCTILUCENT CLOUD SEASON BEGINS: Northern sky watchers, it's time to start looking for noctilucent clouds (NLCs). The NOAA-21 satellite detected the first NLCs of the 2024 summer season on May 26th. At the moment, the clouds are still inside the Arctic Circle, but they should start to spread to lower latitudes in the days ahead. [Photo Gallery]
RETURN OF AN HISTORIC SUNSPOT: It's back. Almost. Sunspot AR3664, the source of the historic May 10th superstorm, has spent the past two week's transiting the farside of the sun. Yesterday, it announced its return with an X2.8-class solar flare. Amateur astronomer Michael Karrer was watching the sun when the explosion occured, and he captured this picture of flying debris:
"I have not seen an explosion like this in my 40 years of observing the sun," says Karrer. "So fast, so far out into space! It was gigantic."
The explosion caused a deep shortwave radio blackout over east Asia and hurled a bright CME into space. A NASA model of the CME confirms that it will miss Mercury, Venus and Earth. None of the inner planets will be affected by this powerful event.
How do we know the flare came from AR3664? Helioseismology. The giant sunspot is affecting the way the sun vibrates, and its seismic echoes are visible in maps of the sun's farside:
This map shows that AR3664 is just behind the southeastern limb of the sun--a good match for the location of yesterday's X-flare. Clearly, AR3664 is still active as it turns to face Earth again later this week. Solar flare alerts: SMS Text
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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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