SpaceWeather.com Archive — Mon, Jun 24, 2024

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MARTIAN AURORA WARNING: A CME is heading for Mars. According to a NASA model, the storm cloud will strike the Red Planet on June 27th. The impact could spark global auroras and erode a small amount of the planet's atmosphere. Aurora alerts: SMS Tex t

NOCTILUCENT CLOUDS OVER PARIS: Last night, noctilucent clouds (NLCs) swept across Europe in the biggest outbreak of the year. "I took these pictures from my window in the south of Paris," reports French photographer Bertrand Kulik. "Some very bright noctilucent clouds were visible."

The clouds were also seen from Denmark, Austria, Germany, the Netherlands, England, Poland, Slovakia, and Belgium. It was a widespread display.

2024 is supposed to be a bad year for noctilucent clouds. High solar activity is warming Earth's upper atmosphere and breaking apart water molecules necessary for noctilucent ice. Previous studies have shown that NLCs tend to retreat during years around Solar Max.

But solar activity isn't the only factor. NLCs form when summertime wisps of water vapor rise to the edge of space, frosting specks of meteor debris. Extra moisture pumped into the atmosphere by the undersea eruption of the Tonga volcano could be giving the clouds an edge. Interhemispheric teleconnections influence the temperature and moisture available for NLCs as well.

Earth-orbiting satellites also detected the June 23rd display. Each dot in this map is a cloud of "noctilucent ice" detected by NOAA's Suomi NPP weather satellite:

"These data show a nice line of NLCs down to a latitude of ~55° N over the British Isles," says Matthew Deland, Chief Research Scientist at NASA contractor SSAI. Deland works with data from multiple Earth-orbiting satellites , and he provides the maps for our daily NLC reports on Spaceweather.com.

Ground-based observers saw the clouds at even lower latitides than satellites did. For example, Paris is located at +48.9° N. Photographers on the ground have an important role to play in tracking this phenomenon. Wherever you live, be alert for electric blue, and if you see an NLC, submit your pictures here.

Realtime Noctilucent Cloud Photo Gallery
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COLLECTABLE STAR TREK ORNAMENT: No Trekkie Christmas tree is complete without The Arena Ornament. This rare Hallmark keepsake depicts the reptilian Gorn poised to deliver a death blow to Capt. James T. Kirk on the planet Cestus III. On June 14, 2024, it flew to the edge of space onboard a cosmic ray research balloon:

You can have it for $135.95. The ornament depicts a famous scene from The Original Series episode "Arena" first broadcast on January 19, 1967. Decades later, the Gorn have become main villians on the new Star Trek series Strange New Worlds, which we love!

The ornament comes with a Christmas card showing Kirk and the Gorn in flight, and certifying they have traveled to the edge of space and back again.