SpaceWeather.com Archive — Mon, Aug 26, 2024

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A CME IS COMING: But it's not a big one. The CME was hurled toward Earth during the early hours of Aug. 23rd by a puny C6-class solar flare. A NASA model predicts it will arrive late on Aug 26th. The impact could spark a minor G1-class geomagnetic storm. CME impact alerts: SMS Tex t

STARLINK SATELLITES ARE TURNING BLUE: When SpaceX first started launching Starlink satellites in 2019, astronomers saw red. Now they're seeing blue. "Recently, a number of people have reported sightings of blue satellites," says Croatian astronomer Marko Posavec. "On the night of Aug. 11th, while observing the Perseids, I captured an entire series of them."

"It was Starlink group G9-1, launched in June," says Posavec. "These are DTC (Direct to Cell) satellites. Apparently, the material they're using to try to reduce brightness also gives them a blue color, for which SpaceX says is 'not unexpected.' The color is visible to the naked eye."

DTC satellites are SpaceX's attempt to create "a cell tower in space." The first batch of six was launched in Jan. 2024, and now there are 129 DTCs in orbit. According to a recent study, on average they shine nearly five times brighter in the sky than earlier Starlinks. The extra brightness is a probable result of their larger antennas and lower altitudes.

This image combines brightness data from the IAU Centre for the Protection of Dark and Quiet Skies with a recent blue streak photo from amateur astronomer Mike Saemisch of New Harmony, Utah:

The inset plot shows DTC satellite magnitudes peaking at +5, which is barely visible to the unaided eye. However, the dispersion is large, and some are brighter than 1st magnitude stars.

Earlier this year, SpaceX requested an amendment to their license with the U.S. Federal Communications Commission allowing them to operate up to 7,500 DTCs orbiting at heights near 350 km. If that plan comes to fruition, there might soon be many more blue streaks in the night sky.

Have you seen a blue Starlink? Submit your images here.

more Blue Starlink images: from Paolo Palma near Rieti, Italy; from Ken Florey of Horsham, West Sussex, England; from Kane Taylor at the Port Lincoln National Park, South Australia; from Georg Klingersberger of Kobernaußen, Upper Austria; from Olivier Staiger of Vétroz, Switzerland; from Nick Lamenola of Lima, NY

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LASER-ETCHED MOON CRYSTAL: On Aug. 16th, the students of Earth to Sky Calculus launched a cosmic ray balloon to the stratosphere. This laser-etched Moon cube went along for the ride, floating in the stratosphere for more than 3 hours at an altitude of 103,130 feet:

You can have it for $129.95. Inside the crystal cube, a laser has etched authentic lunar topography with all major craters, mountains and lava plains accurately portrayed. This gift comes with a unique gift card showing the cube in flight and telling the story of its journey to the edge of space and back again.