DEATH VALLEY BALLOON RECOVERY (UPDATE): A cosmic ray research balloon that landed in the Death Valley Wilderness was recovered yesterday. A bit of black-diamond off-roading, a bit of climbing, and 22 miles of hiking over terrain that humans may not have visited in decades resulted in a new cosmic ray data point for our 12-year monitoring program. Thank you to all the readers who inquired about our welfare; we're fine! :)
RAINBOW PLANET: Something special is happening to Venus. The brightest of all planets is hanging low in the western sky at sunset, and if you look at it with a backyard telescope, you'll see that it is a slender 7% crescent. But that's not the special part.
What's special is, Venus looks like a rainbow:
Douglas Kostyk took this picture on March 8th from the Farash Center for Observational Astronomy in Ionia, New York. "Venus is becoming very slender as it approaches inferior conjunction on March 22nd, and the rainbow effect was striking," he says.
Venus resembles a rainbow because Earth's atmosphere acts like a prism. When Venus is near the horizon, refraction separates the red crescent from the blue. The crescent is so thin, the splitting of colors is obvious. Later this month, Venus will disappear into the glare of the spring sun--so catch the rainbow planet while you can!
more images: from Kevin R. Witman of Cochranville, Pennsylvania
Realtime Venus Photo Gallery
Free: Spaceweather.com Newsletter
YOU CAN HAVE THIS FAR-OUT SCIENCE EXPERIMENT: This gift started out as a science project. The young scientists of Earth to Sky Calculus wanted to see what Earth looked like when viewed through a spherical lens. The answer: very cool.
We flew this crystal ball to the stratosphere onboard a cosmic ray balloon and photographed the planet behind it from an altitude of 111,640 feet. After the balloon exploded (as planned) the payload parachuted back to Earth, landing safely in the volcanic tablelands north of Bishop, California.
You can have it for $141.95. The crystal sphere has the continents of Earth lightly laser-etched on its surface, making it a unique "art meets science" conversation piece. It comes with a greeting card showing the sphere in flight and telling the story of its journey to the stratosphere and back again.
Far Out Gifts: Earth to Sky Store
All sales support hands-on STEM education
Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery
Free: Spaceweather.com Newsletter
Realtime Aurora Photo Gallery
Free: Spaceweather.com Newsletter