According to a study from the Harvard T.H. They can seed clouds, trigger lightning, and penetrate commercial airplanes. Who cares? Cosmic rays are a surprisingly "down to Earth" form of space weather. The higher you fly, the more radiation you will absorb. At 40,000 feet, the multiplier is closer to 50x. For instance, we see that boarding a plane that flies at 25,000 feet exposes passengers to dose rates ~10x higher than sea level. The dose rates shown above are expressed as multiples of sea level. This plot shows how the Forbush decrease was restricted to the stratosphere it did not affect lower levels of the atmosphere: Radiation levels in the stratosphere over California dropped nearly 20%, more than doubling the previous record from our dataset.Įn route to the stratosphere, our sensors also pass through aviation altitudes, so we can sample radiation where planes fly. 3-4, 2021, was the deepest in the history of our 7-year atmospheric monitoring program. We have measured Forbush decreases before. Radiation from deep space that would normally pepper Earth's upper atmosphere is briefly wiped out. It happens when a CME from the sun sweeps past Earth and literally pushes cosmic rays away from our planet. This is called a "Forbush decrease," named after American physicist Scott Forbush who studied cosmic rays in the early 20th century. It happened during the strong geomagnetic storms of Nov.
2021): Our balloons have just measured a sudden drop in atmospheric radiation. Our monitoring program has been underway without interruption for 7 years, resulting in a unique dataset of in situ atmospheric measurements. 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. SPACE WEATHER BALLOON DATA: Almost once a week, and the students of Earth to Sky Calculus fly space weather balloons to the stratosphere over California. MAG is the visual magnitude of the asteroid on "Lunar Distance." 1 LD = 384,401 km, the distanceīetween Earth and the Moon.
Even Amazon doesn't carry items this far out.ĭon't forget to enter coupon code "SPACESANTA" at checkout for a 10% Extended Black Friday discount.Īll sales support hands-on STEM education These unique gifts have flown above 99.7% of Earth's atmosphere, experiencing space-like blasts of cosmic rays, extreme cold, and a wild ride parachuting back to Earth after the balloon explodes. It's filled with unique items that have flown to the edge of space onboard cosmic ray research balloons.
GIFTS FROM THE EDGE OF SPACE: Are you looking for a far-out gift? Check out the Earth to Sky Store. Increasing heat could liberate new jets of gas and dust and maybe even blow away huge chunks of ice and rock. The comet is heading for its closest approach to the sun (0.61 AU) on Jan. It is now shining like a 4th magnitude star in the constellation Microscopium, an easy target for small telescopes in the southern hemisphere. The same outbursts boosted the comet's brightness. Two and perhaps three explosions in the comet's core sent streamers of debris billowing down the tail.
These were created by a series of outbursts that began on Dec. Photo credit: Michael Jaeger and Lukas Demetz from skygems.namibiaĬomet Leonard's magnificent tail is braided with multiple filaments of gas and dust. "What's going on today is simply breathtaking," reports Michael Jaeger, who photographed the comet using an 8-inch telescope in Namibia: Comet Leonard (C/2021 A1) has turned into a real gift. Aurora alerts: SMS Text.ĬHRISTMAS COMET LEONARD: If you love comets, Merry Christmas. The glancing blow could spark minor G1-class geomagnetic storms and auroras around the Arctic Circle. NOAA forecasters say the CME is still coming, with a delayed impact likely on Christmas Day. Neutron counts from the University of Oulu's Sodankyla Geophysical Observatory show that cosmic rays reaching Earth are slowly declining-a result of the yin-yang relationship between the solar cycle and cosmic rays.ĪLL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS IS A. Credit: SDO/HMIĬosmic Rays Solar Cycle 25 is beginning, and this is reflected in the number of cosmic rays entering Earth's atmosphere. Sunspots AR2916 is growing rapidly and merits watching as a posible source of flares.