SPACE WEATHER VS. THE LOW-ALTITUDE ECONOMY: If you hate the sound of drones buzzing overhead, you're going to love a new study just published in Space Weather. The study warns that solar storms can disrupt drones--not by frying their electronics, but by degrading GPS navigation and communications. This poses a potential threat to the new "low-altitude economy" happening in airspace close to the ground.
THIS RED ARC IS NOT AN AURORA: During last week's severe geomagnetic storm, red auroras danced across the skies of Europe. This red arc, however, was not one of them:
"This is an SAR arc," says Andreas Graw, who photographed the phenomenon on Jan. 20th from Lower Saxony, Germany.
SAR arcs were discovered in 1956 at the beginning of the Space Age. Researchers didn’t know what they were and unwittingly gave them a misleading name: "Stable Auroral Red arcs" or SAR arcs. In fact, SAR arcs are neither stable nor auroras.
Auroras appear when charged particles rain down from space, hitting the atmosphere and causing it to glow. SAR arcs form differently. They come from Earth's ring current system.
Earth is surrounded by a donut-shaped circuit carrying millions of amps around our planet. Think Saturn's rings--except made of electricity. During geomagnetic storms, heat from the ring current leaks into the upper atmosphere and causes it to glow.
Did you see an SAR arc last week? Submit your images here.
more SAR arcs: from Andreas Graw of Lower Saxony, Germany; from Dave N of Santa Fe County, New Mexico
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"BEST WIFE EVER" TEA CUP FOR VALENTINE'S DAY: Tell your wife what you think of her with the "Best Wife Ever" Tea Cup from Space. The students of Earth to Sky Calculus launched it to the stratosphere onboard a cosmic ray research balloon:
You can have it for $134.95. The crystal glass cup is decorated with 3D pink and purple daisies. There's also a matching teaspoon! This romantic Valentine's gift comes with a greeting card showing the cup in flight and telling the story of its journey to the stratosphere. See also: The High Tea Cup.
Earth to Sky Valentine's gifts have flown above 99.7% of Earth's atmosphere, experiencing space-like blasts of cosmic rays, extreme cold, and a wild ride parachuting back to Earth after the balloon explodes. Even Amazon doesn't carry items this far out. And, best of all, all sales support student science projects and STEM education.
Far Out Gifts: Earth to Sky Store
All sales support hands-on STEM education
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