WEEKEND SOLAR FLARE WATCH: A big and active sunspot hiding behind the sun's northeastern limb is about to reveal itself, rotating into view this weekend. A dramatic M2-class solar flare on May 7th confirmed its approach. The unnamed sunspot has produced at least 5 CMEs in recent days. If this production continues, Earth could soon be in line for a solar storm. Solar flare alerts: SMS Text
A FULL PARASELENIC CIRCLE: This is very rare. On Feb. 28th, tour guide Joel Weatherly looked up from a snowy field in the Yukon Territory and saw something far more unusual than auroras. "We were treated to an exceptional display of atmospheric optics including a full paraselenic circle," he says.
The "paraselenic circle" is the giant ring of light passing directly through the 90% full Moon. It is formed by moonlight reflecting from the faces of ice crystals.
"With air temperatures below -30° C, the atmosphere was full of ice crystals, refracting light to create true art out of physics," says Weatherly.
Within these ice crystals, many kinds of reflections (internal, external, single, double, triple and more) are required to form a complete paraselenic circle. That’s why they are so rare.
There are two more rings of light in Weatherly's image: a 22-degree halo and a circumscribed halo. These halos are more common--almost as frequent as auroras in the Yukon. "Which we also saw," says Weatherly. "It was quite a night."
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NEW COSMIC CAT WINE STOPPER: ou can't buy this on Amazon. Only the Earth to Sky Store has the new Cosmic Cat Wine Stopper. On March 15, 2026, this far-out stopper flew to the stratosphere onboard an Earth to Sky Calculus cosmic ray research balloon:
You can have it for $79.95. The wooden cat is hand carved and painted, and it has an airtight rubber seal that securely plugs bottles of wine or any other beverage. With your stopper, you'll receive a gift card showing the cat 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
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