Stuff in the Sky

Last Friday I watched live coverage of NASA/SpaceX Crew-10 launch for the ISS. It was fascinating to see the launch, rocket separation (and Falcon-9 land back at the Cape) and some 27 hours or so later Dragon dock with the ISS. Last night Dragon Freedom undocked and today splashed down in the Atlantic. 57 minutes after splashdown the four astronauts were safely out of the capsule and are now enroute home. I didn't see any of this in the sky but the video quality and variety just amazed me.

While SpaceX recovery crews were rigging Dragon for retrieval, a pod of dolphins were swimming and "playing" around the capsule. Drone coverage: Excellent.
 
More incredible news from JWST. Still not confirmation of alien life, but seems like it's just a matter of time now. Not sure if k2-18b's star is observable with amateur optics, but would be kinda cool to see it and just wonder.

"Given everything we know about this planet, a Hycean world with an ocean that is teeming with life is the scenario that best fits the data we have,"
Click to expand...

www.livescience.com

'Most promising yet' signs of alien life discovered on planet k2-18b

'Most promising yet' signs of alien life discovered on planet k2-18b
www.livescience.com www.livescience.com
 
Might as well add to the jinxing that this usually causes.. Possible good-sized Aurora these next couple of days. Sunday night into Monday morning is looking the best. Lots of variables involved but better to hear about it possibly first than after missing a cool event !

Screenshot 2025-05-31 at 12.33.55 PM.png
 
Gyrfalcon22 said:
Might as well add to the jinxing that this usually causes.. Possible good-sized Aurora these next couple of days. Sunday night into Monday morning is looking the best. Lots of variables involved but better to hear about it possibly first than after missing a cool event !

View attachment 155437
Click to expand...
Today's Kp Geomagnetic index is Kp 8.
I have captured the solar numbers for the daily Northwest HF ECOM nets since 2015 and *found nothing in my records over K6*.

1748787838833.jpeg
Yesterday's net was almost a total blackout with a solar Kp Geomagnetic index of 4. I could only hear 2 stations in Medford and West Central Idaho. I don't normally participate on Sunday but will bring up my station to find out if I can hear anybody.
(Could hear Spokane, W Central ID, Medford, and a station 5 miles away out of a dozen+ stations trying across WA OR & ID)
 
Last edited:
From the "Space Weather Woman"
If you’ve been watching the news, you may already know: a fast solar storm series is on its way. Whether you connect with me often on social media or are pleasantly surprised to find this note in your inbox, this is one of those moments I couldn’t let pass without reaching out.

Beginning late on June 1st, Earth is expected to be struck by what may become the third-largest solar storm of Solar Cycle 25. Only two storms in this cycle rank higher: the “Gannon Storm,” a G5-level event on May10–12, 2024, and another G5 storm from October 10–11, 2024. Perhaps you remember them-- not just for their dazzling auroras, but for what they disrupted.
This new storm is likely to peak at a G4 level — technically a lower classification, but numbers don’t always tell the whole story. The truth is, the difference between storms in this cycle and those in the last is like night and day. Worlds apart.
Solar Cycle 24 lulled us into a kind of quiet comfort. But Cycle 25 is reminding us what a more “normal” Sun looks like — and how deeply our technologies are now intertwined with space weather.
If the Gannon Storm taught us anything, it’s that Precision Farming has become the latest industry to show vulnerability to space weather. And this one matters in a uniquely personal way: it touches our food supply. When satellite-based navigation systems like GPS, GNSS, or RTK degrade, so do the margins for farmers. Any major outage like the one during the Gannon Storm can cost thousands of dollars a day in lost seed, reduced crop yield, and hard choices. (See this University of Kansas report for more.) (https://spaceweatherwoman.us12.list...3b9396217d688d4f7c&id=60e69ac0e6&e=0b46f68e29)
As we turn to the current forecast, expect the skies to be filled with strong aurora, at least when the storm first hits— likely late June1st. But from there, much depends on the storm’s magnetic orientation (more details in my live briefing below). While I’ll be quietly rooting for photographers to catch unforgettable skies, I’ll also be hoping for calm conditions— for the sake of the farmers now planting peanuts and soybeans, harvesting barley and rice, and navigating a new kind of weather they cannot see.
We are no longer in the quiet shadow of Solar Cycle 24. The Sun is waking — and with it, so is our awareness of unforeseen vulnerabilities in this new, technologically advanced world.
Cheers,
Tamitha
 
Last night things got off slowly but started rolling from 12:00am on with lots of pinks and green-mixed with pillars. After about a one hour cloud cover things evolved into the more typical northern green arc aurora after 2:00 am until daylight.
It is thought that the solar winds pumped the waves here about twice as fast as expected. So not really sure where that leads us for tonight.

Everything is still a go for a good show until proven otherwise!!

Below is about 25 miles inland from the ocean looking NE
2025AURRRRRRRRRRRR.jpg
Above: what the camera sees. The pink pillars some across as diffused white light. Reds are hard to see for naked eye.

After 2:00am there was some excellent arcing naked eye green aurora. 3 lazy "stitched"photos together
2025AURORA244444.jpg
 
Last edited:
Brian Miller said:
From the "Space Weather Woman"
If you’ve been watching the news, you may already know: a fast solar storm series is on its way. Whether you connect with me often on social media or are pleasantly surprised to find this note in your inbox, this is one of those moments I couldn’t let pass without reaching out.

Beginning late on June 1st, Earth is expected to be struck by what may become the third-largest solar storm of Solar Cycle 25. Only two storms in this cycle rank higher: the “Gannon Storm,” a G5-level event on May10–12, 2024, and another G5 storm from October 10–11, 2024. Perhaps you remember them-- not just for their dazzling auroras, but for what they disrupted.
This new storm is likely to peak at a G4 level — technically a lower classification, but numbers don’t always tell the whole story. The truth is, the difference between storms in this cycle and those in the last is like night and day. Worlds apart.
Solar Cycle 24 lulled us into a kind of quiet comfort. But Cycle 25 is reminding us what a more “normal” Sun looks like — and how deeply our technologies are now intertwined with space weather.
If the Gannon Storm taught us anything, it’s that Precision Farming has become the latest industry to show vulnerability to space weather. And this one matters in a uniquely personal way: it touches our food supply. When satellite-based navigation systems like GPS, GNSS, or RTK degrade, so do the margins for farmers. Any major outage like the one during the Gannon Storm can cost thousands of dollars a day in lost seed, reduced crop yield, and hard choices. (See this University of Kansas report for more.) (https://spaceweatherwoman.us12.list...3b9396217d688d4f7c&id=60e69ac0e6&e=0b46f68e29)
As we turn to the current forecast, expect the skies to be filled with strong aurora, at least when the storm first hits— likely late June1st. But from there, much depends on the storm’s magnetic orientation (more details in my live briefing below). While I’ll be quietly rooting for photographers to catch unforgettable skies, I’ll also be hoping for calm conditions— for the sake of the farmers now planting peanuts and soybeans, harvesting barley and rice, and navigating a new kind of weather they cannot see.
We are no longer in the quiet shadow of Solar Cycle 24. The Sun is waking — and with it, so is our awareness of unforeseen vulnerabilities in this new, technologically advanced world.
Cheers,
Tamitha
Click to expand...
Good stuff !
 
Sigh……….two weeks early.

But hey, I’ve got the whole month+ ahead of me. Better dig out a Randy Mc for the northern leg just in case.
 
VAGABOND said:
Sigh……….two weeks early.

But hey, I’ve got the whole month+ ahead of me. Better dig out a Randy Mc for the northern leg just in case.
Click to expand...
Hopefully not obscured by smoke, the situation in central Canada is dire.
 
Those folks have taken a beating recently.
Been keeping an eye on that. Smoke forecast to drift SE similar to last year. Wet weather system transitioning the Midwest to the NE currently might push it further east. Amazing that some of those fires burn underground throughout the winter then resurface and continue in the spring. Mother Nature speaking directly at us.
 
Nicely done as usual, John! Liked the progression.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top