Category: Astronomy

Posted on

Spaceweather for Wednesday, 11/30/23

GEOMAGNETIC STORM WATCH (G3): Three and perhaps four CMEs are heading for Earth following a series of explosions on the sun this week. Estimated time of arrival: Nov. 30th and Dec. 1st. The biggest of the CMEs, launched on Nov. 28th, could sweep up some of the earlier, lesser ones, forming a Cannibal CME capable of sparking strong G3-class geomagnetic storms with mid-latitude auroras. Aurora alerts: SMS Text

ALMOST-X CLASS SOLAR FLARE: Sunspot AR3500 erupted on Nov. 28th (1950 UT), producing an M9.8-class solar flare (only percentage points below category X). NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory recorded the blast:

A pulse of extreme ultraviolet radiation blacked out shortwave radio communications across the South Pacific Ocean and parts of the Americas: map. Mariners and ham radio operators may have noticed loss of signal at frequencies below ~20 MHz for as much as an hour after the flare.

Of greater interest is the CME. The explosion hurled one directly toward Earth. This SOHO coronagraph movie shows a halo cloud expanding in our direction faster than 800 km/s (1.8 million mph):

According to a NASA model, this CME will strike Earth midday (UT) on Dec. 1st. It might sweep up one of several slower CMEs ahead of it. If so, it could form a Cannibal CME capable of causing a strong G3-class geomagnetic storm. CME alerts: SMS Text

STARLINK MOON HALO: Another batch of 23 Starlink satellites soared into orbit onboard a Space X Falcon 9 rocket Monday night from Cape Canaveral. Just after liftoff, the rocket pierced a thin layer of icy clouds, setting the stage for this picture:

“The Starlink schedule has increased so much that that there is a launch every week from Cape Canaveral,” says photographer Dr. Gilbert Plumer of Rockledge, Florida, only 20 miles from the Cape. “Cirrus clouds made a halo around the full Moon, adding some beauty to the liftoff.”

Every night, a network of NASA all-sky cameras scans the skies above the United States for meteoritic fireballs. Automated software maintained by NASA’s Meteoroid Environment Office calculates their orbits, velocity, penetration depth in Earth’s atmosphere and many other characteristics. Daily results are presented here on Spaceweather.com.

On Nov 28, 2023, the network reported 9 fireballs.
(8 sporadics, 1 Leonid)

In this diagram of the inner solar system, all of the fireball orbits intersect at a single point–Earth. The orbits are color-coded by velocity, from slow (red) to fast (blue). [Larger image] [movies]

SPACE WEATHER BALLOON DATA: Almost once a week, Spaceweather.com and the students of Earth to Sky Calculus fly space weather balloons to the stratosphere over California. These balloons are equipped with sensors that detect secondary cosmic rays, a form of radiation from space that can penetrate all the way down to Earth’s surface. Our monitoring program has been underway without interruption for 7 years, resulting in a unique dataset of in situ atmospheric measurements.

Latest results (July 2022): Atmospheric radiation is decreasing in 2022. Our latest measurements in July 2022 registered a 6-year low:

What’s going on? Ironically, the radiation drop is caused by increasing solar activity. Solar Cycle 25 has roared to life faster than forecasters expected. The sun’s strengthening and increasingly tangled magnetic field repels cosmic rays from deep space. In addition, solar coronal mass ejections (CMEs) sweep aside cosmic rays, causing sharp reductions called “Forbush Decreases.” The two effects blend together to bring daily radiation levels down.

.Who cares? Cosmic rays are a surprisingly “down to Earth” form of space weather. They can alter the chemistry of the atmosphere, trigger lightning, and penetrate commercial airplanes. According to a study from the Harvard T.H. Chan school of public health, crews of aircraft have higher rates of cancer than the general population. The researchers listed cosmic rays, irregular sleep habits, and chemical contaminants as leading risk factors. A number of controversial studies (#1, #2, #3, #4) go even further, linking cosmic rays with cardiac arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death.

Technical notes: The radiation sensors onboard our helium balloons detect X-rays and gamma-rays in the energy range 10 keV to 20 MeV. These energies span the range of medical X-ray machines and airport security scanners.

Data points in the graph labeled “Stratospheric Radiation” correspond to the peak of the Regener-Pfotzer maximum, which lies about 67,000 feet above central California. When cosmic rays crash into Earth’s atmosphere, they produce a spray of secondary particles that is most intense at the entrance to the stratosphere. Physicists Eric Regener and Georg Pfotzer discovered the maximum using balloons in the 1930s and it is what we are measuring today.

Posted on

Spaceweather.com on 4Mirror

VAN GOGH WAVES IN THE MAGNETOSPHERE: When Vincent van Gogh painted “The Starry Night” in 1889, little did he know he was working at the forefront of 21st century astrophysics. A paper recently published in Nature Communications reveals that the same kind of waves pictured in the famous painting can cause geomagnetic storms on Earth.


Above: Vincent van Gogh’s ‘Starry Night’, which he painted in 1889: more

Physicists call them “Kelvin Helmholtz waves.” They ripple into existence when streams of gas flow past each other at different velocities. Van Gogh saw them in high clouds outside the window of his asylum in Saint-Rémy, France. They also form in space where the solar wind flows around Earth’s magnetic field.

“We have found Kelvin-Helmholtz waves rippling down the flanks of Earth’s magnetosphere,” says Shiva Kavosi of Embry–Riddle Aeronautical University, lead author of the Nature paper. “NASA spacecraft are surfing the waves, and directly measuring their properties.”

This was first suspected in the 1950s by theoreticians who made mathematical models of solar wind hitting Earth’s magnetic field. However, until recently it was just an idea; there was no proof the waves existed. When Kavosi’s team looked at data collected by NASA’s THEMIS and MMS spacecraft since 2007, they saw clear evidence of Kelvin Helmholtz instabilities.

“The waves are huge,” says Kavosi. “They are 2 to 6 Earth radii in wavelength and as much as 4 Earth radii in amplitude.”


This computer model shows van Gogh waves moving down the flank of Earth’s magnetosphere. Credit: Shiva Kasovi. [full-sized animation]

Imagine a wave taller than Earth curling over and breaking. That’s exactly what happens. Kelvin-Helmholtz waves naturally break onto Earth’s magnetic field, propelling energetic particles deep into the magnetosphere. This revs up Earth’s radiation belts, triggering geomagnetic storms and auroras.

A key finding of Kavosi’s paper is that the waves prefer equinoxes. They appear 3 times more frequently around the start of spring and fall than summer and winter. Researchers have long known that geomagnetic activity is highest around equinoxes. Kelvin-Helmholtz wave activity could be one reason why.

Our planet’s seasonal dependence of geomagnetic activity has always been a bit of a puzzle. After all, the sun doesn’t know when it’s autumn on Earth. (Insult and indolence toward the sentience of the sun) One idea holds that, around the time of the equinoxes, Earth’s magnetic field links to the sun’s because of the tilt of Earth’s magnetic poles. This is called the Russell-McPherron effect after the researchers who first described it in 1973. Kavosi’s research shows that Kelvin-Helmholtz waves might be important, too.

We just passed the autumnal.equinox. Earth’s time cycles are set by the Psi Bank Harmonic for our evolution.

Northern autumn has just begun, which means Kelvin Helmholtz waves are rippling around our planet, stirring up “Starry Night” auroras. Happy autumn!

Posted on

Spaceweather.com Red Auroras on Red 11 Skywalker…of course. That’s our show.

GEOMAGNETIC STORM WATCH (G1): A geomagnetic storm watch is in effect for Sept 26th when another CME is expected to hit Earth’s magnetic field. NOAA forecasters expect it to be a glancing blow producing only a minor G1-class storm. Aurora alerts: SMS Text

RARE RED AURORAS: As predicted, a CME hit Earth’s magnetic field on Sept. 24th (2043 UT). The impact was much stronger than expected. Magnetometer needles in Canada jerked by as much as 129 nT, and a G2-class geomagnetic storm began almost immediately after the CME arrived. Observers in Europe saw rare red auroras as far south as France:

“What a wonderful red aurora we had last night night in France!” says photographer Nicolas Drouhin of Burgundy. “It did not last long (about 5 minutes), but it was intense, even to the naked eye!”

Naked-eye sightings of red auroras are unusual because human eyes are notoriously insensitive to the 6300 Å wavelength of their red light. Yet multiple observers in, e.g., Scotland and Iceland confirmed that they saw the scarlet glow. Some displays were stunningly red:

“These were some of the reddest auroras I’ve ever seen,” says photographer Chris Walker of the Mull of Galloway, Scotland.

Red auroras persisted as night fell over North America. However, except in Alaska they were not naked-eye; the storm was ebbing. The farthest south they were photographed was Curtis, Nebraska, at latitude +40.6N.

What makes red auroras rare? Partly it’s just that we have trouble seeing them, so they go unreported by sky watchers. Mainly, though, it’s because they are the most delicate auroras. Red auroras come from atomic oxygen near the top of Earth’s atmosphere. Oxygen atoms excited by solar wind or a CME spit out their red photons very slowly. The radiative lifetime of the transition is 110 seconds–an eternity in the quantum realm. The atoms must remain undisturbed that long to produce their eerie red light.

Realtime Aurora Photo Gallery
Free: Spaceweather.com Newsletter

Posted on

Earth Holon Positional Update

I have a positional update on where the Sunspot Cycle Pivot Point is located in the 4D Earth Holon, IN TIME.

It’ is Plate VI, 60-90 degrees South-180-225 degrees East. That is in the South Pacific, South of Australia taking up the entire YELLOW SEED TIME PORTAL in the S. Polar Zone of Earth.

This is a Gateway Kin whose purpose is to Ground, be our ROOTS/TRANSMIT information.

The interesting juxtaposition here is that by TUESDAY we hit Yellow 11 Sun, the Stop Codon in any DNA sequence which sits in the North Polar Zone of Earth and transports the Yellow galactic spectrum OF LIGHT or Photons in the magnetosphere producing the yellow light in the auroras!

So, come Tuesday, I predict a BIG YELLOW light show. LOL. Indeed, on Wednesday, hitting Red 12 Dragon, we are in the N. Polar Zone.

Posted on

The First Director of NASA James Webb

James Webb Birth gateway, October 7, 1906. He only dreamed of this telescope that manifested over 100 years later. The day the telescope traveled to its position was his EXACT analog on the right.
The day the telescope was on its way-12/26/21, Red 13 Cosmic Earth.
It launched on Yellow 12 Warrior, COLLECTIVE INTELLIGENCE AND QUESTIONING, FEARLESSNESS.

The travel day of James Webb Telescope 1M miles away from 🌎 Earth

Red 13 Earth is Cosmic Navigation and Synchronicity. It was exactly that for humanity. When you watch the movie, note that Yellow 12 Warrior, 12/25/21 is mediated by Saturn, the planet of the Hexagon. The mirrors on the mandala that is the telescope are HEXAGONS! Also, the Guide Power for the telescope is Red 13 Cosmic Dragon whose analog is White 13 Cosmic MIRROR. The telescope LITERALLY IS a COSMIC MIRROR reflecting back to us, our Source, who we are and where we came from; our cosmic family.

Go here for more info.

https://www.space.com/james-webb-space-telescope-12-amazing-discoveries

Look at the synchronicity of this. James Webb was White 13 Cosmic Wind. The telescope trip 1M miles away from earth was his direct analog support, Red 13 Cosmic Earth.

It’s totally amazing, not an accident. You MUST watch Netflix UNKNOWN COSMIC TIME MACHINE. The title isn’t so great, but I cried watching this unfold. Red 13 Cosmic Earth is my Guide Power. I love our universe and astronomy so much, and humanity.

There have been many mistakes made by wiser and older entities than us and I am here to tell you that earth and humanity have been endowed with a very special spirit of love and species cooperation that can HEAL all the error. We think we are minor, but our hearts and minds are ginormous. We have a special mission in our local universe. All eyes are on us right now. Do you best to bring your best self forward while we move into this paradigm shift as citizens of our local universe.

Posted on

In Jupiter’s swirling Great Red Spot, NASA spacecraft finds hidden depths

November 9, 20215:45 AM ET Heard on Morning Edition

https://www.npr.org/2021/11/09/1052773575/in-jupiters-swirling-great-red-spot-nasa-spacecraft-finds-hidden-depths#:~:text=The%20shrinking%20spot,how%20long%20it%20will%20last.

BRENDAN BYRNE

Jupiter’s Red Storm is shrinking

This new perspective of Jupiter from the south makes the Great Red Spot appear as though it is in northern territory. This view is unique to Juno.

NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/Gerald Eichstäd/Seán Doran © CC NC SA

Jupiter is well-known for being the biggest planet in our solar system, and it’s also home to the biggest storm. It’s called the Great Red Spot, an enormous vortex that has been swirling for centuries. It’s bigger than our own planet, and yet we don’t know much about it. Until now, scientists could only observe the spot from afar. But thanks to a NASA spacecraft launched a decade ago, we’re finally getting a look inside Jupiter’s storm.

The Great Red Spot is like a storm here on Earth, but supersized. “It’s basically clouds,” says Paul Byrne, a planetary scientist at Washington University in St. Louis. Really, “it’s not all that dissimilar to the kinds of things we know as cyclones or hurricanes or typhoons on Earth.”

At 10,000 miles across, the Great Red Spot is the largest storm in our solar system and has been continually observed for around 200 years, but it’s been around for much longer. (Compare that with big storms on Earth, which generally last a few days or weeks at most.)

“We believe this thing is really old,” says Scott Bolton, principal investigator of NASA’s Juno mission. “How it lasts that long is a mystery.”

Before Juno, scientists could only observe the storm from afar. Even from a distance, they noticed it was changing shape and actually shrinking.

This illustration depicts Juno in an elliptical, polar orbit around Jupiter.

NASA

NASA’s Juno mission launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida back in 2011 and arrived at Jupiter in 2016. In 2019, the spacecraft changed course slightly and passed over the Great Red Spot twice.

Bolton and his team used microwave sensors to slice into the depths of the storm, getting the first 3D model of the Great Red Spot. “It’s a pancake because it’s so wide at the top. But the depth of that pancake is much thicker than what we would have anticipated.”

SPACE

Astronomers want NASA to build a giant space telescope to peer at alien Earth

The microwave observations show these storms on Jupiter, called vortices, extend below the cloud deck of the planet. In the case of the Great Red Spot, it extends at least 200 miles into the clouds of Jupiter, beyond the depths of where clouds form and water condenses.

“That’s very different than the way we think Earth’s atmosphere works, which is largely driven by water, clouds, condensation, and sunlight,” says Bolton. “How that works is going to require new models and new ideas to explain.”

Measuring the Great Red Spot’s gravity

During its 2019 pass over the Great Red Spot, the Juno spacecraft buzzed the planet at a blistering 130,000 miles per hour. The storm is so massive that its gravity field actually jostled the spacecraft during its flyby.

“The local gravity tends to pull and push away the spacecraft as it flies over the vortex, and this creates a sort of bump in the road for Juno,” says Marzia Parisi, a Juno scientist from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California and lead author of a paper in the journal Science on gravity overflights of the Great Red Spot.

Scientists here on Earth could see the effect of these gravitational “bumps.” That’s because every time they jostled Juno, they nudged the spacecraft closer to or farther from Earth. That changing distance caused the radio waves sent back to Earth some 400 million miles away to be subtly squeezed and stretched, a phenomenon known as a Doppler shift. Using this effect, the spacecraft could pick up tiny jostles as small as 0.01 millimeters per second.

“The precision required to get the Great Red Spot’s gravity during the July 2019 flyby is staggering,” says Parisi. The findings from the gravity observations complemented Bolton’s earlier microwave measures, concluding the storm penetrates some 300 miles into Jupiter’s atmosphere.

The shrinking spot

Observations of the Great Red Spot show that it’s shrinking. For nearly a century and a half, the iconic spot has been getting smaller and it’s unclear just how long it will last.

Juno is taking a closer look at this phenomenon. “What we’re doing is seeing up close what’s happening while that shrinking has happened,” says Bolton.

SPACE

If NASA greenlights this interstellar mission, it could last 100 years

The spacecraft is observing flecks of the storm getting caught up in neighboring clouds. The storm itself also appears to be trapped by powerful conveyor belts of wind on the planet that is stabilizing the storm.

“I don’t think the theory is very far advanced to the sense where we can connect all of that to the changes in the size,” said Bolton.

Data from Juno will help scientists predict what could possibly happen to the Great Red Spot.

“Understanding what’s happening with the storm now allows scientists to make much more sophisticated models to simulate what we see and then make predictions for what will happen in the future, including up to perhaps when the Great Red Spot may eventually go away,” says planetary scientist Paul Byrne.

Understanding other Jupiter-like planets

The findings from the Juno spacecraft are shedding light on the early formation of giant planets like Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune — and even planets beyond our own solar system.

“When we get up close, and this is the first planet we’ve actually been able to open up and look inside, this is going to tell us a lot about how giant planets work throughout the galaxy,” says Bolton.

The JunoCam imager aboard NASA’s Juno spacecraft captures a Jovian cyclone known as a barge type in a polar jet stream called “Jet N4.”

NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS. Image processing: Gerald Eichstädt CC BY

To date, astronomers have identified thousands of exoplanets — planets that orbit a star other than our sun. These planets are far away, with the closest one around 10.5 light-years from Earth. That makes observing what’s happening on the surface difficult.

Around 1,400 of these exoplanet candidates are thought to be gas giants, much like Jupiter. Understanding what happens on Jupiter can help scientists get a better sense of what’s happening beyond our solar system.

“By understanding the physics and the processes that go into shaping Jupiter,” says Byrne, “we’ll get a better understanding of not just Jupiter, but of these kinds of worlds.”

%d bloggers like this: