TONIGHT! BE ALERT FOR THE 'LUNAR X': Have you seen the Lunar X? Once a month, when the sun rises over Crater Werner in the Moon's southern hemisphere, sunlight grazes the region's high terrain and makes a criss-cross shape 50 miles wide. It's the Moon's own alpenglow. The "X" is due to appear today, Thursday, March 6th, around 18:25 CST. Submit your X's here.
THESE GREEN RIPPLES ARE NOT AURORAS: Green is a color we associate with Spring. It is fitting, then, that the approach of northern Spring is making green ripples in the sky. Aaron Watson photographed the phenomenon on Feb. 28th from the West Elk Mountains of Colorado:
"I was out stargazing and noticed what appeared to be dark streaks across the sky," says Watson. "The sky looked bright like there were high altitude clouds, and the dark streaks looked like clear patches. A 20 second exposure with the Nikon D750 revealed the green glow."
This is airglow, a verdant emission produced by photochemistry in Earth’s upper atmosphere. You've probably seen it in pictures taken from the ISS; it's that thin shell of green light surrounding our planet.
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Spring is airglow season mainly because of springtime thunderstorms. Updrafts from convective storm cells batter the upper atmosphere from below, creating a bulls-eye pattern of pressure waves. These rippling waves amplify airglow, creating scenes like Watson recorded in Colorado. Multiple storms can even create interference patterns--a must-see!
'Tis the season for airglow. Photographers who catch it, please submit your photos here.
Realtime Airglow Photo Gallery
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SO LONG AND THANKS FOR ALL THE FISH: It's the nightlight for fans of Douglas Adams and the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: So Long and Thanks for All the Fish. This glowing dolphin crystal ball flew to the stratosphere onboard a cosmic ray research balloon,reaching an altitude of 113,845 feet:
You can have it for $119.95. The students are selling this and other edge of space gifts to support their cosmic ray monitoring program.The crystal sphere comes with a unique gift card showing the dolphins in flight. Also included is a multi-colored LED illuminated stand, which turns the globe into a night light.
Far Out Gifts: Earth to Sky Store
All sales support hands-on STEM education
Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery
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Realtime Aurora Photo Gallery
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