SpaceWeather.com Archive — Thu, Jul 18, 2024

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GEOMAGNETIC STORM WATCH (G1): Two and possibly three faint CMEs are heading for Earth following a series of eruptions from sunspots AR3743, AR3753, and AR3744 on July 16-17. Their collective impact on July 20-21 could cause a minor G1-class geomagnetic storm. Aurora alerts: SMS Tex t

A PLASMA BRIDGE TO THE MOON: Yesterday, Argentine astronomer Eduardo Schaberger Poupeau was photographing the sun when one of the biggest prominences in years leaped into space. "As I watched, the plasma fountain kept growing and reached an impressive height of more than 380,000 km, more than the distance between Earth and the Moon!" he says.

"This solar phenomenon was truly spectacular," says Poupeau. "Extending like a serpent of fire, the magnitude and beauty of the prominence left me in awe, reminding me once again of the majesty and power of the universe around us."

On its way out of the sun's atmosphere, the prominence entrained a CME and hurled it into space: movie. The CME won't hit Earth, but it will strike Mercury during the late hours of July 18th. New research shows that this will probably ignite X-ray auroras at ground level on Mercury's rocky surface.

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REAL MONEY FROM SPACE: On July 16, 1969, the world watched as a Saturn V rocket launched Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin to the Moon. Exactly 55 years later, the students of Earth to Sky Calculus launched the US Mint's limited edition Saturn V dollar coin to the stratosphere:

You can have a single coin for $39.95 or an entire unbroken roll for $199.95. No longer available from the US Mint, these rare coins flew 121,665 feet above the Sierra Nevada on July 16, 2024. One side shows the mighty Saturn V rocket blasting off from Cape Canaveral; the other side features the Statue of Liberty in profile.

The students are selling space coins to support to support their cosmic ray research program. (Helium is expensive!) Each order comes with a greeting card shoing the coin(s) in flight and telling the story of their journey to the stratosphere and back again.