UNEXPECTED CME IMPACT: A CME hit Earth's magnetic field today, June 15th (1157 UT). The unexpected impact sparked a minor G1-class geomagnetic storm, which could wax and wane for the rest of the day. Aurora alerts: SMS Text
A POTENTIALLY DANGEROUS SUNSPOT: Only a few days ago, sunspot AR3712 didn't exist. Now it's 8 times wider than Earth and growing fast. This morning in Austria, Michael Karrer photographed the sunspot crackling with activity:
Karrer's photo reveals hot currents of plasma surging up and down the sunspot's massive backbone. A few hotspots are "Ellerman Bombs"-- magnetic explosions about one-millionth as powerful as true solar flares. A single Ellerman bomb releases about 1026 ergs of energy, equal to about 100,000 World War II atomic bombs.
Magnetograms of the sunspot reveal a mixed-polarity magnetic field with north (+) and south (-) poles bumping together. Magnetic reconnection could soon cause an X-class solar flare. Any such eruption this weekend will be geoeffective as the sunspot is turning to directly face Earth. Solar flare alerts: SMS Text
more images: from Philip Smith of Manorville, NY
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NOCTILUCENT CLOUDS IN MOTION: As the summer solstice approaches, noctilucent clouds (NLCs) are spreading across Europe. There's one surefire way to know when you've seen one--the electric-blue ripples. Michael Jaeger photographed them on June 14th over Martinsberg, Austria:
"This is a 2 minute animation of the night-shining clouds just after midnight," says Jaeger.
NLCs are clouds of frosted meteor smoke 83 km above Earth's surface. They form at this time of year when summertime wisps of water vapor rise to the mesosphere, coating specks of disintegrated meteoroids with an icy rime. The ripples are gravity waves.
Gravity waves are waves of pressure and temperature that ripple upward from powerful storm systems. They get their name from the fact that gravity acts as a restoring force, which tries to restore equilibrium to up-and-down moving air. Gravity waves can propagate all the way from Earth's surface to the mesosphere, where they imprint themselves on the the forms of noctilucent clouds.
If you see these waves rippling across the night sky, photograph them! Then, submit your images here.
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HANDMADE TOTAL ECLIPSE PENDANT: On April 8, 2024, the students of Earth to Sky Calculus launched a cosmic ray research balloon to the stratosphere. This handmade pendant went along for the ride. Floating more than 118,110 feet high, the it spent 3 minutes and 45 seconds wrapped in the shadow of the Moon:
You can have it for $179.95. Created by an artist in Texas where totality occured, the pendant displays a solar eclipse art print sealed under a smooth glass cover. It comes with a greeting card showing the pendant in flight and telling the story of its journey to the edge of space during the total eclipse.
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