CHINESE SPACE STATION FLYBYS: This week, China's Tiangong space station is making a series of bright evening passes over the USA. It is easy to see even from urban areas. Tiangong flyby alerts are included in our new Backyard Astronomy Alert Service.
GIANT RED RING IN THE SKY: On Aug. 31st, Frankie Lucena witnessed the largest Transient Luminous Event (TLE) in the heavens. "It is actually called an 'ELVE'," explains Lucena, who photographed the giant red ring over Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico:
"The ring was 300 to 500 km wide," says Lucena.
Discovered in 1990 by cameras onboard the space shuttle, ELVEs are created by unusually strong lightning. "According to Vaisala Xweather Lightning Data, this one came from a -206 kilo-ampère bolt about 240 miles south of the island," he says. For reference, that's 20x stronger than ordinary lightning.
When such a lightning bolt occurs, it generates an intense electromagnetic pulse (EMP). The red ring marks the spot where the EMP hit Earth's ionosphere. ELVEs inhabit the same ethereal parts of the upper atmosphere as sprites, green ghosts and Gigantic Jets, but it dwarfs them all.
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THE FAMOUS IBERIA 1473: Since the total solar eclipse on Aug. 12th, we have featured multiple images from Iberia 1473, a chartered flight that captured the Moon's shadow from the nose of the airplane and performed some rare astrometry. Meanwhile on the ground in Spain, Nicolas Lefaudeux captured the plane itself:
"Using 25x100 binoculars, I myself saw a plane transiting the solar corona," says Lefaudeux. "Only later did I realise that it was the famous Iberia 1473!"
Lefaudeux carefully checked that this was the correct plane. "Everything matched," he says. "The plane was about 60km away, and Airbus A321XLR is 45m long, resulting in 2.5 arcmin apparent size. At its altitude of 31,000 feet, it would have been at 8° elevation, just the same as the eclipse."
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THE POLAR LIGHTS PENDANT: This pendant has auroras on the front and a secret compartment inside. On Aug. 30th, the students of Earth to Sky Calculus launched it to the stratosphere onboard a cosmic ray research balloon:
You can have it for $114.95. The heart-shaped stainless steel frame measures 0.9 x 1.6 inches. The inner chamber has space for ashes, dried flowers, essential oils, special messages -- or anything you wish to keep close to your heart.
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.
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