THE FARSIDE DANGER IS SUBSIDING: New data from Europe's Solar Orbiter show that a massive farside sunspot group first detected last week is now dispersing. The sunspot has not produced an X-flare in five days, and even M-class flares are becoming scarce. This sunspot may pose no danger to Earth when it turns toward us this weekend. Free: Space Weather Newsletter.
\A VERY RARE ICE HALO: Experts call it a "suncave Parry arc." Usually, you have to go to the Arctic to find one. Last week, however, Marcella Giulia Pace saw the rarity in Sicily.
"On May 15th, I was in my garden, surrounded by the quietness of the Sicilian countryside, when, lifting my eyes to the sky, I saw an extraordinary halo display," says Pace. "With my camera in hand, I began running along the country road beside my home, searching for an open field that could reveal the entire composition."
The luminous network included a circumzenithal arc, a supralateral arc, a suncave Parry arc, an upper tangent arc, a 22° halo, a parhelic circle and a sundog.
"As I ran, the complex display kept transforming before my eyes," says Pace. "The greatest surprise came when I saw a Parry arc forming above the upper tangent arc--the rarest phenomenon of all!"
Suncave Parry arcs are exceptionally rare because they require sunlight to pass through column-shaped ice crystals suspended in a very specific, improbable, and unstable alignment in the atmosphere. They were first recorded in 1820 by William Edward Parry while icebound off Melville Island in the Canadian Arctic.
"The entire spectacle lasted only twenty minutes," she says. "Then thicker clouds slowly advanced, covering the sun and dissolving one by one all the arcs that had transformed my sky into a mosaic of light and ice."
Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery
Free: Spaceweather.com Newsletter
ALWAYS AND FOREVER RUBY SPACE PENDANT: Are you looking for a far out gift? Consider the Always and Forever Ruby Space Pendent. The students of Earth to Sky Calculus launched it to the stratosphere onboard a cosmic ray research balloon:
You can have it for $219.95. Engraved with the words "I love you always and forever", this sterling silver pendant has a heart-shaped ruby crystal in the middle surrouunded by a ring of glittering 5A cubic zirconia nuggets. It is a visually striking necklace perfect for anniversaries and romantic birthdays.
The students are selling space pendants to pay the helium bill for their cosmic ray ballooning program. Each one comes with a greeting card showing the jewelry 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
Realtime Aurora Photo Gallery
Free: Spaceweather.com Newsletter