Special Offer: SAVE 600nok per person. Book a combination aurora borealis chase and scenic day tour during the months of September, October or November 2019 for the special price of 1800 kr. Check Marianne's webpage for details!

SOLAR MINIMUM CONDITIONS ARE IN EFFECT: The sun has been blank (no sunspots) for 28 of the past 30 days. This is a sign that Solar Minimum is underway. During this phase of the solar cycle, sunspots and solar flares are rare, but we get plenty of holes in the sun's atmosphere and lots of extra cosmic rays. Solar Minimum conditions are expected to continue uninterrupted for the remainder of 2019. Aurora alerts: SMS Text.

A DOUBLE GIGANTIC JET: Since sprites were discovered in the late 1980s, researchers have photographed thousands of the strange upward-reaching lightning bolts. Their big cousins, Gigantic Jets, are far more rare. Recorded examples number in the dozens. It is no wonder, then, that observers are still seeing new behaviors in this type of powerful "super sprite." On Oct. 2nd, photographer Frankie Lucena may have recorded the first example of a "double Gigantic Jet."

"In the past, I've captured Gigantic Jet events that split into two, but this is the first time I've seen a Gigantic Jet that fired a second time just as the first jet was beginning to fade out," explains Lucena. "They shared the same channel of ionization, so it is considered to be a single event."

Lucena photographed the repeating jet from his private observatory in Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico. The instigating thunderstorm was about 100 km offshore. The arrow in this satellite image points from his camera to the source of the lightning:

Lucena is a leading photographer of Gigantic Jets. In a field where sightings number in the dozens, Lucena alone has photographed 39 Gigantic Jets from his Caribbean observatory since he began his work in 2010. So when he says a repeating Gigantic Jets is rare, it really is. View more examples of sprites and their cousins in the Realtime Sprite Photo Gallery.

Realtime Sprite Photo Gallery
Free: Spaceweather.com Newsletter

ARCTIC AURORA OUTBURST: Who needs sunspots? On Oct. 7th the spotless sun sparked an outburst of auroras over Tromsø, Norway. "It was quite a surprise!" says Markus Varik, who photographed the display:

"These were some of the most amazing Northern Lights one could imagine," he says.

What happened?  It's called "the Russell-McPherron effect," named after the researchers who first described it. During weeks around equinoxes, cracks occasionally open in Earth's magnetic field, allowing solar wind to enter the magnetosphere. The in-rushing gas produces an Arctic light show--no sunspots required.

That's what happened with no warning on Oct. 7th. "We all like surprises!" says Varik, "It's a true blessing to have these nights, as Solar Minimum is definitely underway."

Realtime Aurora Photo Gallery
Free: Spaceweather.com Newsletter

THE NEW MOONSTONE PENDANT: Are you looking for a far-out gift? Nothing says "I love you" like a moonstone from the edge of space. On June 12th, the students of Earth to Sky Calculus flew this moonstone wrapped in a sterling silver Celtic love knot 34.1 km (111,877 feet) above Earth's surface:

You can have it for $139.95. The students are selling these pendants to support their cosmic ray ballooning program. Each one comes with a greeting card showing the item in flight and telling the story of its journey to the edge of space. Sales support the Earth to Sky Calculus cosmic ray ballooning program and hands-on STEM research.

Far Out Gifts: Earth to Sky Store
All sales support hands-on STEM education

Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery
Free: Spaceweather.com Newsletter

On Oct. 8, 2019, the network reported 37 fireballs.
(36 sporadics, 1 southern Taurid)

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]

Recent & Upcoming Earth-asteroid encounters:

Asteroid	Date(UT)	Miss Distance	Velocity (km/s)	Diameter (m)
2019 SL8	2019-Oct-03	7.9 LD	13.3	24
2019 SP3	2019-Oct-03	1 LD	8.7	20
2019 SH9	2019-Oct-03	4.6 LD	14.9	10
2019 TK	2019-Oct-03	1.2 LD	13.9	9
2014 VA	2019-Oct-04	17.6 LD	6.2	43
2019 TX	2019-Oct-04	1.3 LD	7.3	7
2019 TV	2019-Oct-05	4.1 LD	9.1	9
2017 TJ4	2019-Oct-05	13.5 LD	8.9	32
2019 TF3	2019-Oct-06	3.7 LD	5.1	9
2019 SZ4	2019-Oct-06	18.7 LD	6.5	25
2019 TH	2019-Oct-06	14.7 LD	11.5	26
2019 TU	2019-Oct-08	4.4 LD	9.8	22
2019 TW1	2019-Oct-08	1.5 LD	11.7	10
2019 TM3	2019-Oct-08	1.3 LD	9.9	12
2019 RK	2019-Oct-08	16.7 LD	3	30
2019 TC1	2019-Oct-08	3.5 LD	13.1	12
2019 SB6	2019-Oct-08	7.8 LD	7.8	16
2019 TM	2019-Oct-08	9.4 LD	12.9	38
2019 TS	2019-Oct-08	8.4 LD	7.8	29
2019 TV1	2019-Oct-09	17.1 LD	9	23
2019 TZ	2019-Oct-09	8.1 LD	11.6	18
2019 SL7	2019-Oct-09	1.4 LD	17.1	24
2019 SX5	2019-Oct-10	17.7 LD	21.8	83
2019 TN1	2019-Oct-12	12.9 LD	8.6	15
2019 SK8	2019-Oct-12	10.5 LD	8.4	21
2019 SV9	2019-Oct-12	8.6 LD	13.5	30
2019 SE2	2019-Oct-12	19.2 LD	10.2	55
2019 TQ3	2019-Oct-13	10.4 LD	18.3	23
2019 TH2	2019-Oct-13	9.3 LD	7.8	19
2019 TT1	2019-Oct-13	2.9 LD	13.3	23
2019 SR8	2019-Oct-16	13.5 LD	9.8	26
2019 TE2	2019-Oct-18	8.3 LD	10.1	27
2019 TA1	2019-Oct-18	15.5 LD	6.4	22
2019 SJ8	2019-Oct-19	11.6 LD	7.4	47
2019 TQ2	2019-Oct-25	12.8 LD	12.4	35
162082	2019-Oct-25	16.2 LD	11.2	589
2017 TG5	2019-Oct-25	14.4 LD	11.9	34
2019 TR2	2019-Oct-29	19.4 LD	13.9	73
2015 JD1	2019-Nov-03	12.9 LD	11.9	269
2010 JG	2019-Nov-12	19.6 LD	14.9	235
481394	2019-Nov-21	11.3 LD	7.9	372
2008 EA9	2019-Nov-23	10.5 LD	2.2	10
2017 AP4	2019-Dec-03	8.5 LD	7.5	15

Notes: LD means "Lunar Distance." 1 LD = 384,401 km, the distance between Earth and the Moon. 1 LD also equals 0.00256 AU. MAG is the visual magnitude of the asteroid on the date of closest approach.

Cosmic Rays in the Atmosphere

SOMETHING NEW! We have developed a new predictive model of aviation radiation. It's called E-RAD--short for Empirical RADiation model. We are constantly flying radiation sensors onboard airplanes over the US and and around the world, so far collecting more than 22,000 gps-tagged radiation measurements. Using this unique dataset, we can predict the dosage on any flight over the USA with an error no worse than 15%.

E-RAD lets us do something new: Every day we monitor approximately 1400 flights criss-crossing the 10 busiest routes in the continental USA. Typically, this includes more than 80,000 passengers per day. E-RAD calculates the radiation exposure for every single flight.

The Hot Flights Table is a daily summary of these calculations. It shows the 5 charter flights with the highest dose rates; the 5 commercial flights with the highest dose rates; 5 commercial flights with near-average dose rates; and the 5 commercial flights with the lowest dose rates. Passengers typically experience dose rates that are 20 to 70 times higher than natural radiation at sea level.

To measure radiation on airplanes, we use the same sensors we fly to the stratosphere onboard Earth to Sky Calculus cosmic ray balloons: neutron bubble chambers and X-ray/gamma-ray Geiger tubes sensitive to energies between 10 keV and 20 MeV. These energies span the range of medical X-ray machines and airport security scanners.

Column definitions: (1) The flight number; (2) The maximum dose rate during the flight, expressed in units of natural radiation at sea level; (3) The maximum altitude of the plane in feet above sea level; (4) Departure city; (5) Arrival city; (6) Duration of the flight.

SPACE WEATHER BALLOON DATA: Approximately 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 radiation sensors that detect cosmic rays, a surprisingly "down to Earth" form of space weather. Cosmic rays can seed clouds, trigger lightning, and penetrate commercial airplanes. Furthermore, there are studies ( #1, #2, #3, #4) linking cosmic rays with cardiac arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death in the general population. Our latest measurements show that cosmic rays are intensifying, with an increase of more than 18% since 2015:

The data points in the graph above correspond to the peak of the Reneger-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 Reneger and Georg Pfotzer discovered the maximum using balloons in the 1930s and it is what we are measuring today.

En route to the stratosphere, our sensors also pass through aviation altitudes:

In this plot, dose rates are expessed as multiples of sea level. For instance, we see that boarding a plane that flies at 25,000 feet exposes passengers to dose rates ~10x higher than sea level. At 40,000 feet, the multiplier is closer to 50x.

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.

Why are cosmic rays intensifying? The main reason is the sun. Solar storm clouds such as coronal mass ejections (CMEs) sweep aside cosmic rays when they pass by Earth. During Solar Maximum, CMEs are abundant and cosmic rays are held at bay. Now, however, the solar cycle is swinging toward Solar Minimum, allowing cosmic rays to return. Another reason could be the weakening of Earth's magnetic field, which helps protect us from deep-space radiation.

Essential web links

NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center

The official U.S. government space weather bureau

Atmospheric Optics

The first place to look for information about sundogs, pillars, rainbows and related phenomena.

Solar Dynamics Observatory

Researchers call it a "Hubble for the sun." SDO is the most advanced solar observatory ever.

STEREO

3D views of the sun from NASA's Solar and Terrestrial Relations Observatory

Solar and Heliospheric Observatory

Realtime and archival images of the Sun from SOHO.

Daily Sunspot Summaries

from the NOAA Space Environment Center

NOAA 27-Day Space Weather Forecasts

fun to read, but should be taken with a grain of salt! Forecasts looking ahead more than a few days are often wrong.

Aurora 30 min forecast

from the NOAA Space Environment Center

Heliophysics

the underlying science of space weather

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