STRONG GEOMAGNETIC STORM PREDICTED: NOAA forecasters are predicting a strong G3-class geomagnetic storm on March 23rd when a CME is expected to directly hit Earth. The CME was hurled into space yesterday by an M1-class solar flare from sunspot 4028. It's a faint and wimpy-looking CME, and normally wouldn't cause a strong storm. However, the Russell-McPherron effect boosts the effectiveness of CMEs around the equinox. CME impact alerts: SMS Text.
AURORAS (AND MORE) IN THE USA: Last night (March 21-22), a crack opened in Earth's magnetic field. Solar wind poured through the gap to fuel a G2-class geomagnetic storm. Auroras spilled across the Canadian border into the USA as far south as Colorado, Arizona and maybe even Texas.
Michele Sadauskas was watching the show from Glidden, Wisconsin, when she remembered one of her golden rules of aurora photography: "Always turn around and look behind you!" she says. "There was STEVE, very bright and easy to see with the naked-eye."
STEVE is the narrow purple pillar embedded in the broader glow of red and green auroras. At first glance, STEVE looks like an aurora, but it is not. The phenomenon is caused by ribbons of hot gas flowing through Earth’s magnetosphere at speeds exceeding 13,000 mph. Discovered less than 10 years ago, STEVE appears unpredictably during some geomagnetic storms.
"Within only a couple of minutes, the pink-purple color was lost, and what remained was a wider red arc that stretched from east to west," says Sadauskas. She then witnessed another light that is not an aurora--the SAR arc:
This pure red band is a sign of heat energy leaking into the atmosphere from Earth's ring current system–a donut-shaped circuit carrying millions of amps around our planet. SAR arcs are yet another luminous phenomenon that can appear during geomagnetic storms alongside auroras. Always turn around, indeed!
This complex light show was also recorded in Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Illinois, Missouri, Minnesota, New York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. Browse the aurora gallery for more sightings:
Realtime Aurora Photo Gallery
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ROSE QUARTZ TREE OF LIFE PENDANT: You cannot buy this on Amazon. Only the Earth to Sky Store has the Rose Quartz Tree of Life Space Pendant. This one flew to the stratosphere March 4th onboard a cosmic ray research balloon:
You can have it for $129.95. The pendant's rose quartz gemstone is surrounded by a hand-wrapped stainless steel tree of life. During its 3-hour flight, it experienced temperatures as low as -63 C and air pressures less than 0.3% of sea level--truly, an 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.
Far Out Gifts: Earth to Sky Store
All sales support hands-on STEM education
Realtime Venus Photo Gallery
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Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery
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