GEOMAGNETIC STORM WATCH (G1): Minor G1-class geomagnetic torms are likely on Oct. 12-13 as Earth enters a high-speed stream of solar wind. The gaseous material is flowing from an equatorial hole in the sun's atmosphere. Aurora alerts: SMS Text.
EARTH'S RING CURRENT IS LEAKING: This morning in New Zealand, Fabrizio Melandri observed a red arc in the sky near the Nugget Point Lighthouse. It's a sign that Earth's ring system is leaking:
Yes, Earth has rings. They're made of electricity. The ring current system is a donut-shaped circuit carrying millions of amps around our planet. It is created by opposing motions of electrons and ions in Earth's rotating magnetic field.
Somethimes, thermal energy from the ring current leaks into the atmosphere below. This creates a red arc in the sky like the one Fabrizio Melandri observed.
These red arcs were discovered in 1956 at the beginning of the Space Age. At first, researchers didn’t know what they were and unwittingly gave them a misleading name: "Stable Auroral Red arcs" or SAR arcs, for short. However, they are not auroras.
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MARTIAN SPACE SEED EXPERIMENT: This is a student science project--and you can participate. On Oct. 4, 2025, young scientists launched six test tubes of seeds into the stratosphere, where they floated as high as 100,676 feet for almost three hours:
The okra, tomato, and jalapeño pepper seeds were exposed to temperatures as low as -63 C and cosmic ray fluxes 100x Earth-normal. In the Spring, the students will plant these seeds alongside control samples to discover the difference space travel makes.
You can do the same experiment! For $99, you can have a test tube of flown seeds and a packet of control seeds that remained on Earth. We'll be eager to hear what happens in your own space garden.
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