THE CME HAS ARRIVED: A CME just hit Earth's magnetic field. The impact on June 3rd at 2300 UT did not immediately cause a geomagnetic storm. However, G1-class storms are possible in the hours ahead as Earth moves through the CME's magnetized wake. The CME was hurled in our direction on June 1st by a complex X1-M7 double solar flare. CME impact alerts: SMS Text
THE ANTI-TAIL OF COMET 12P: Comet tails are supposed to point away from the sun. Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks just sprung a tail in the opposite direction--an anti-tail. It's the narrow spike pointing toward the sun in this picture taken June 1st by amateur astronomers Michael Jäger, Gerald Rhemann and Lukas Demetz:
Anti-tails are an optical illusion. They appear when Earth passes through a comet's orbital plane, which, for Comet 12P, is happening this week. During the crossing, the sharp edge of the comet's fan-shaped dust tail appears to point toward the sun.
"Earth crosses the comet's orbital plane on June 6th, so we will see this 'neck-line' structure for several more days," says Jäger.
Comet 12P (magn. +7) is not visible to the naked eye, but it is an easy target for amateur telescopes. Southern hemisphere astronomers can find the comet in the constellation Lepus ~20 degrees below the celestial equator. The antitail should narrow in the days ahead, reaching maximum sharpness on June 6th. If you see it, submit your photos here.
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YODA BEST DAD IN THE GALAXY: Father's Day is less than 2 weeks away. Are you looking for a far-out gift? Consider "Yoda Best Dad in the Galaxy." On May 29, 2024, the Star Wars keychain flew to the stratosphere onboard a cosmic ray research balloon:
You can have it for $99.95. At the apex of the flight, Yoda was 101,354 ft above the Sierra Nevada mountains of central California. The Jedi Master lingered in the stratosphere for more than an hour while radiation sensors gathered data for the students of Earth to Sky Calculus.
The stainless steel keychain comes with a unique gift card showing it floating through the stratosphere. The interior of the card tells the story of the flight and confirms that this gift has been to the edge of space and back again.
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THIS ERUPTION WILL PROBABLY MISS EARTH: Sunspot AR3691 erupted today (1411 UT), producing an M4.8-class solar flare and hurling a gorgeous plume of hot plasma into space:
The debris from this explosion will probably miss Earth. The sunspot is too far off the sun-Earth line for an effective strike. Final confirmation, however, awaits fresh data from SOHO coronagraphs. CME impact alerts: SMS Text
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