A FAST-GROWING SUNSPOT (UPDATED): Watch this movie. It shows 24 hours of sunspot 3964. Yesterday, the sunspot didn't exist. Now, it is the size of two planet Earths. The sunspot's rapidly changing magnetic field is crackling with solar flares, including this M7.4-class explosion just hours ago:
SOHO coronagraph data show *no CME* emerging from the blast site. Like many other strong flares in 2025, this one did not hurl a plasma cloud toward Earth. The sun is shooting blanks. Solar flare alerts: SMS Text.
SUNSET COMET ATLAS: Four days after it dive-bombed the sun, Comet ATLAS (C/2024 G3) is still putting on a good show. Jeremy Perez photographed it shining through last night's sunset from Flagstaff, Arizona:
"I can't emphasize enough how difficult it was to spot and then photograph the comet in bright twilight with gobs of altocumulus and virga all over the place," says Perez. "Using binoculars, I found the comet visually, reframed the camera and quick blasted a sequence of 64 images."
According to observers reporting to the Comet Observation Database, the comet's magnitude is now near -1, much dimmer than it was a few days ago, but still bright enough to photograph in twilight and even blue sky daylight.
Realtime Comet Photo Gallery
Free: Spaceweather.com Newsletter
RARE COMPLEX ICE HALO DISPLAY: Bone-chilling cold. Blowing snow. Penetrating Arctic wind. Add them all together and you get a sunrise that looks like this:
Brian Loch photographed the display on Jan. 12th from Tioga, North Dakota. Each luminous arc and rainbow-colored patch is a type of sun halo, caused by sunlight shining through ice crystals in the air. There is a parhelic circle, a supralateral arc, a 22-degree halo, a circumzenithal arc, an upper tangent arc, a Parry arc, a sun pillar and a pair of sundogs.
Complex halos like this require not just one type of ice crystal, but many, with gem-like perfection and precise crystal-to-crystal alignment. Clouds that contain such an ensemble of ice crystals are rare. In this case, the clouds had help--from the wind, which lifted an assortment of "diamond dust" crystals right off the ground.
"The air temperature was only -5 F, but I didn't want to go back inside," says Loch. "These were visible for quite a while!"
Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery
Free: Spaceweather.com Newsletter
"ALWAYS AND FOREVER" RUBY HEART PENDANT: Are you looking for a far out Valentine's Day gift? Consider the Always and Forever Space Pendent. The students of Earth to Sky Calculus launched it to the stratosphere onboard a cosmic ray research balloon:
You can have it for $219.95. Engraved with the words "I love you always and forever", this sterling silver pendant has a heart-shaped ruby crystal in the middle surrouunded by a ring of glittering 5A cubic zirconia nuggets. It is a visually striking necklace perfect for Valentine's Day, anniversaries, or romantic birthdays.
The students are selling space pendants to pay the helium bill for their cosmic ray ballooning program. Each one comes with a greeting card showing the jewelry in flight and telling the story of its trip to the stratosphere and back again.
Far Out Gifts: Earth to Sky Store
All sales support hands-on STEM education
Realtime Aurora Photo Gallery
Free: Spaceweather.com Newsletter
Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery
Free: Spaceweather.com Newsletter