LIFE ON MARS--OR JUST MORE ROCKS? At a press briefing yesterday, NASA announced a maybe/maybe-not detection of ancient life on Mars. The space agency's Perseverance rover found a rock in an ancient lake bed with unusual markings nicknamed "leopard spots" and "poppy seeds." The minerals Perseverance found inside those strange markings can be produced by microbes. However, the same mineral textures could arise through nonbiological geochemical reactions. So .... shrug? NASA would like to bring a sample home for a closer look.
BUTTERFLY-SHAPED HOLE IN THE SUN'S ATMOSPHERE: A hole has opened in the sun's atmosphere, and it is venting a stream of solar wind toward Earth. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory photographed the 500,000-km-wide butterfly-shaped gap on Sept. 11th:
This is a "coronal hole" -- a region in the sun's atmosphere where magnetic fields open up and allow solar wind to escape. Coronal holes look dark because hot plasma normally contained there is missing. The gaseous material is "on the loose" and on its way to Earth.
A stream of solar wind flowing from this coronal hole should reach Earth on Sept. 14th. Its arrival could spark G1 to G2-class geomagnetic storms. The odds of storming are increased by the "Russell-McPherron effect," which links the magnetic fields of the sun and Earth during weeks around equinoxes. Aurora alerts: SMS Text.
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COFFEE TASTES BETTER IN A CUP FROM SPACE: Find out for yourself. On July 16th, the students of Earth to Sky Calculus launched the 'I Need My Space' Snoopy cup to the stratosphere onboard a cosmic ray research balloon. Here it is floating more than 105,315 feet above Earth's surface:
You can have it for $99.95. It's Peanuts for a cup from space! The students are selling Snoopy cups to support their cosmic ray monitoring program. Each one comes with a greeting card showing the cup in flight and telling the story of its trip to the stratosphere and back again.
Far Out Gifts: Earth to Sky Store
All sales support hands-on STEM education
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