A CME IS COMING--MAYBE TWO: A G1 geomagnetic storm watch is in effect as one and maybe two CMEs approach Earth. The first CME is almost a sure thing. It will probably deliver a glancing blow on Oct. 2nd. The second CME is less certain. It is faint and less well aimed, but could make itself felt as a near-miss on Oct. 4th. Stay tuned for high-latitude auroras during the first week of October. CME Impact Alerts: SMS Text
SPACE WEATHER DELAYS AN ENGLISH TRAIN: Research into the origins of space weather has led scholars to a strange place: An express train in England. Date: Oct. 18, 1848.
A new paper published in the peer-reviewed journal Space Weather examines a curious 16-minute delay almost 180 years ago. At the Exeter platform, passengers sat motionless from 10:05 pm to 10:21 pm because signalers couldn't confirm that the track was clear.
A sunspot was to blame. Just as the train was scheduled to leave the station, a geomagnetic storm interfered with the telegraph system. Electric currents surged through the wires, and the needles signalers used to check the line swung wildly.
The next morning, British clergyman Temple Chevallier sketched a huge sunspot group facing Earth. A month later, when the same sunspot group came around again, auroras lit up the skies of Italy. On Nov. 17, 1848, telegraph instruments between Florence and Pisa jammed just as they had done in Exeter.
All of this took place 11 years before the Carrington Event--a September 1859 solar super-storm sometimes called "the birth of space weather." Solar flares were discovered during the Carrington Event when Richard Carrington saw the bloom of a flare on his solar projection screen.
Before you memorize 1848, however, consider the previous year. On March 19, 1847, railway engineer William Barlow noticed something strange on the Midland Railway near Derby, England. "A brilliant aurora was seen," he reported to the Royal Society, "and during the whole time, strong alternating deflections occurred on all [our telegraph] instruments."
The authors of the new paper believe that is the first documented case of the sun interfering with human tech. The "Barlow Event," anyone?
Read the full paper here: https://doi.org/10.1029/2026SW005239
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THE EASTER ISLAND CHRISTMAS ORNAMENT: You can't buy this on Amazon. Only the Earth to Sky Store has the Easter Island Christmas Ornament from space. Here it is floating at the top of Earth's atmosphere on July 16, 2026:
You can have it for $98.95. Modeled after the iconic stone heads of Easter Island, known as Moai, this ornament adds an element of mystery to any Christmas Tree. For 3 hours, it floated through the stratosphere onboard a cosmic ray research balloon, then parachuted back to Earth, landing near Telescope Peak in Death Valley National Park.
The ornament comes with a full-color gift card showing the Moai in flight. The interior of the card tells the story of its journey to the edge of space and back again.
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