SpaceWeather.com Archive — Thu, Aug 15, 2024

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GEOMAGNETIC STORM WATCH (G1): Yesterday's X1-class solar flare from sunspot AR3784 hurled a faint CME directly toward Earth. A NOAA model predicts it will arrive on Aug. 18th. NASA's model leans more toward Aug. 17th. Either way, the CME's impact could cause a minor G1-class geomagnetic storm. CME impact alerts: SMS Tex t

A BLUE FLASH FROM VENUS: Italian photographer Paolo Palma was watching Venus sink into the sunset on Aug. 12th when something extraordinary happened. A piece of the planet broke away and turned blue:

This is a very rare blue flash from Venus.

You've heard of green flashes. They're sometimes seen when the sun is setting at sea. Temperature inversions and strong thermal gradients in air above the sea surface split the sun into R-G-B colors and magnify the green into a dramatic flash above the setting sun.

Blue flashes are formed in the same way as green flashes. However, blue flashes are harder to see because air molecules and aerosols scatter blue light. When the air is exceptionally clear, however, the blue flash emerges.

Photographers are lucky when they catch a blue flash from the sun. Catching one from Venus is a once in a lifetime shot. Congratulations, Paolo!

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REAL MONEY FROM SPACE: On July 16, 1969, the world watched as a Saturn V rocket launched Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins 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 $49.95 or an entire unbroken roll for $249.95. 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 showing the coins in flight and telling the story of their journey to the stratosphere and back again.