DECREASING CHANCE OF STORMS: A CME expected to graze Earth on Jan. 24th has not arrived. It might be running late, or it might have missed. NOAA forecasters still believe that a G1-class geomagnetic storm is possible this weekend when a second CME passes nearby. We believe the odds of a storm are low. CME impact alerts: SMS Text.
THE DISINTEGRATION OF COMET ATLAS: Some comets like it hot. Comet ATLAS (C/2024 G3) is not one of them. After it flew past the sun on Jan. 13th, Comet ATLAS's overheated core began to dissolve. Using a remote-controlled telescope in Río Hurtado, Chile, astronomer Lionel Majzik recorded the disintegration:
His movie, which highlights the comet's nucleus (or "head"), tracks the breakup over a 6-day period. This may sound like bad news for comet observers, but there's an upside. All of the ice and dust formerly contained in the frozen head has billowed back into the tail. Indeed, now Comet ATLAS is a "headless wonder" visible to the naked eye in the southern hemisphere. Browse the Comet ATLAS photo gallery for the latest images.
Realtime Comet ATLAS Photo Gallery
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THE EVENING PLANET SHOW: Last night in Arizona, Jeremy Perez went outside to look for the tail of Comet ATLAS. Instead, "a planet lineup said, hey, how about us?" says Perez. "Because of how spread out the planets were, I made my first attempt at capturing a 180° overhead, horizon-to-horizon strip panorama." Here it is:
"They're pretty spread out, but worth a look — Saturn & Venus in the west after sundown, Jupiter roughly overhead, and Mars rising bright in the east. Neptune & Uranus are hiding in there too, but some star charts may be needed to pull them up in binoculars," says Perez.
"That Zodiacal Light was a strong visual feature from astronomical twilight onward," notes Perez. "There was also lots of red air glow compared to the greens I typically see."
The planet lineup is visible from both hemispheres. Enjoy the show!
Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery
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STRING OF HEARTS SNOOPY SCULPTURE: Valentine's Day is only 3 weeks away. Are you looking for a fun, romantic gift? Consider the String of Hearts Snoopy Sculpture. Here is the hand-painted figurine floating 112,505 feet above Earth's surface on Jan. 30, 2024:
You can have it for $142.95. The students of Earth to Sky Calculus launched this stone resin sculpture to the stratosphere onboard a cosmic ray research balloon. It spent more than 2 hours floating at the top of Earth's atmosphere while cosmic ray sensors gathered data for the student's atmospheric radiation monitoring program.
This unique Valentine's gift comes with a greeting card showing the sculpture in flight and telling the story of its journey to the edges of space. All sales support hands-on STEM education and research.
Far Out Gifts: Earth to Sky Store
All sales support hands-on STEM education
Realtime Aurora Photo Gallery
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Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery
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