SpaceWeather.com Archive — Sun, Mar 16, 2025

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SUNSPOT NUMBERS ARE INCREASING, ESPECIALLY IN ONE HEMISPHERE: Sunspot counts continue their recent surge with 13 sunspot groups scattered around the solar disk. Most (8 of 13) are in the northern hemisphere. The north half of the sun appears to be waking up after lagging the south for more than a year. Solar flare alerts: SMS Text.

VENUS IS A STUNNING SIGHT: Venus is less than a week away from inferior conjunction on March 22nd, when it will pass almost directly between the sun and Earth. This is transforming the way the planet looks. "Venus is a stunning sight through telescopes," reports Mariano Ribas, who sends this picture from Buenos Aires, Argentina:

"The closest planet to Earth presents a huge, thin disk measuring 58 arcseconds and barely 3% illuminated," says Ribas. "This image is the result of capturing, stacking, and processing 400 video frames obtained with my 12-inch Meade LX90 telescope."

Venus is turning into a crescent for one simple reason: It is turning its nightside toward Earth. The crescent itself traces sunlight filtering through the upper layers of Venus's thick atmosphere. On March 22nd, the horns of the crescent will almost touch. Observing this will be tricky and even dangerous as photographers must take extreme precautions to keep blinding sunlight out of their optics. Nevertheless, a small number of experienced astronomers will manage it, so stay tuned.

Realtime Venus Photo Gallery
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"METEOR CRATER" CRYSTAL PENDANT: Have you heard of Moissanite? It's a very rare mineral discovered in Arizona's Meteor Crater by 19th-century chemist Henri Moissan. At first, he thought it was diamond, but later realized it was even more rare. It came from meteorites! On March 4, 2025, the students of Earth to Sky Calculus launched a Moissanite pendant to the stratosphere onboard a cosmic ray research balloon:

You can have it for $299.95. Almost indistinguishable from natural diamond, the 3-carat crystal is held by a sterling silver frame with the words "I Love You" engraved on the back. It's a truly out of this world gift.

The students are selling space jewelry to pay the helium bill for their high altitude ballooning program. Each pendant comes with a greeting card showing the item in flight and telling the story of its journey to the stratosphere and back again.