Keep an eye on this site for possible aurora clues:
https://aurorawatch.lancs.ac.uk/ 

---

Keep an eye on this site for possible aurora clues:
https://aurorawatch.lancs.ac.uk/ 

Update from Spaceweather:
"Earth's magnetic field is reverberating from an unexpected CME impact on May 6th, which sparked a G2-class geomagnetic storm. Another CME is following close on its heels. A second impact expected on May 7th or 8th could bring renewed geomagnetic storming with auroras across parts of Europe, Canada, and northern-tier US States."
https://spaceweather.com/ 

---

Minor geomagnetic activity. Noted 18.00hrs. See:
https://aurorawatch.lancs.ac.uk/ 

---

The CME from a few days ago is expected to start impacting Earth's magnetic field in the next few hours.

Unfortunately, cloud off the Atlantic is already starting to move in here. The near full moon might also make it difficult for those with clear skies too, though brighter bursts will likely still be visible.

---

Keep checking - there's still minor geomagnetic activity being reported...
I think cloud will spoil the seeing, but it's still interesting to know about.
https://aurorawatch.lancs.ac.uk/ 
 

---

Spaceweather says:
"An approaching CME is peppering Earth's atmosphere with energetic particles, causing an S1-class solar radiation storm and a polar radio blackout. The CME itself will reach Earth on May 10th, bringing a chance of geomagnetic storms and auroras."
https://spaceweather.com/ 
 

---

A supernova, SN 2023ixf, has just been discovered in the Pinwheel
Galaxy (M101), according to EarthSky. At 21 million light years this
is the closest SN in a decade. You may like to have a go at
photographing this if you have a telescope!

See: https://earthsky.org/todays-image/supernova-in-m101-pinwheel-galaxy-closest-in-a-decade-how-to-see/ .
 

This girl has a huge social media following from space geeks, for 2 obvious reasons!

---

20 years ago this morning, there was an annular eclipse visible across Scotland at sunrise. This was the last time that the "main event" (totality or annularity) of a solar eclipse occurred on British soil. The next time won't be until the total eclipse of 2090.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_eclipse_of_May_31,_2003 

Annularity across Scotland:

---

See what you make of this Spaceweather story:
GEOMAGNETIC STORMS ARE HEATING THE ATMOSPHERE:
"A series of strong geomagnetic storms in 2023 has pumped terawatts of thermal energy into Earth's upper atmosphere, creating sharp increases in satellite drag. According to NASA's Thermosphere Climate Index (TCI), the temperature of the thermosphere is near a 20 year high."
Space Weather News for June 2, 2023
https://spaceweather.com 
 

---

Lightning occurs not only on Earth but also on Jupiter and Saturn, confirmed by various space missions. Here, NASA's Juno Probe has captured a brilliant flash of lightning from cumulonimbus clouds in a vortex over northern polar regions of Jupiter!

https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/jpl/nasa-s-juno-mission-captures-lightning-on-jupiter .

Jovian thunderstorms occur in water/ice and ammoniacal/ice Cumulonimbus clouds, and are generated from Jupiter's intense internal heat source rather than from Solar activity, as is the case for Earth. Earth's closest equivalent is volcanic lightning. Jovian thunderstorms are most frequent in the Polar regions, whereas on Earth, they are most frequent in the Tropical regions, especially over land.

Juno probe has also detected evidence of Sprites on Jupiter.

Lightning on other Solar System worlds with atmosphere, i.e, Uranus, Neptune, Venus, and Mars have never been confirmed, although limited evidence of these have been detected by various space probes (i.e, as radio signals). No lightning has been detected on Titan.
 

Spaceweather update: Wed 21.6.2023
A new sunspot erupted today, producing an X1-class solar flare and a fast-moving CME. The CME might miss Earth. Instead it is heading for Venus and Mars. Impacts later this week could scrape some atmosphere off Venus and spark ultraviolet auroras on Mars. Full story.
https://spaceweather.com/ 

---

Spaceweather update: Wed 21.6.2023
A new sunspot erupted today, producing an X1-class solar flare and a fast-moving CME. The CME might miss Earth. Instead it is heading for Venus and Mars. Impacts later this week could scrape some atmosphere off Venus and spark ultraviolet auroras on Mars. Full story.
https://spaceweather.com/ 

It always intrigues me how Venus manages to maintain such a thick atmosphere, despite being pretty close to the Sun and having no magnetic field. Mercury, the Moon and to an extent Mars have all been stripped of their atmospheres, and even Earth's is just a thin haze in comparison, yet Venus's holds strong.

---

More or Less this morning examined the claim that 18% of the UK economy in terms of GDP depends on space-related activities.

In terms of actual manufacturing and the employment it generates, the figure is only 0.2%. But it turns out that the 18% figure is valid if you count up the number of activities which depend on GPS enabling, from Uber to JIT deliveries to satnavs to .... (and probably some leftover use of TV satellite dishes before full fibre takes over).

Would you have predicted that, say, 25 years ago?

---

It always intrigues me how Venus manages to maintain such a thick atmosphere, despite being pretty close to the Sun and having no magnetic field. Mercury, the Moon and to an extent Mars have all been stripped of their atmospheres, and even Earth's is just a thin haze in comparison, yet Venus's holds strong.

Me too.

Looking across the internet, it is generally held that the reason that Venus has maintained such a thick atmosphere is because CO2 is much denser than that of O2, N2 and water vapour, exerting much greater pressure on its surface, and that it has not been subject to photo-dissociation and photo-erosion, as it has been for water, O2 and N2, which all makes up Earth's atmosphere. Also, Venus is the 2nd largest rocky planet of the Solar System with greater gravity well than Mars, Moon and Mercury.

Venus does have a weak induced magnetic field produced by the solar wind interacting with the outer atoms in the atmosphere of Venus - this may play a role in reducing photo-erosion of its atmosphere.

However, Venus lack of internally generated (IG) magnetic field is a puzzle. The planet's similar size and composition to Earth should have a hot, active interior, caused by radioactive decay of isotopes in the mantle and crust, and the primordial heat left over from planetary formation. Maybe something else is keeping Earth hot and active, like the effects of the Moon tides, or Earth being a younger planet wandered into older Solar System, or even exotic causes, like Earth passing through of dark energy region, causing heating of it's core! We just don't really know. What we do know is that Venus has a very slow retrograde rotation - that may account for its lack of magnetosphere.

Venus puts a considerable constraints into what Earth-like exoplanets may be like. Many could have relatively inactive interior, lack of IG magnetic field, and atmosphere consisting of chiefly CO2. This would make Earth one of the only few very special planets in the galaxy!

Anyway, I would really love to hear what other say about this on TWO! 😊

Me too.

Looking across the internet, it is generally held that the reason that Venus has maintained such a thick atmosphere is because CO2 is much denser than that of O2, N2 and water vapour, exerting much greater pressure on its surface, and that it has not been subject to photo-dissociation and photo-erosion, as it has been for water, O2 and N2, which all makes up Earth's atmosphere. Also, Venus is the 2nd largest rocky planet of the Solar System with greater gravity well than Mars, Moon and Mercury.

Venus does have a weak induced magnetic field produced by the solar wind interacting with the outer atoms in the atmosphere of Venus - this may play a role in reducing photo-erosion of its atmosphere.

However, Venus lack of internally generated (IG) magnetic field is a puzzle. The planet's similar size and composition to Earth should have a hot, active interior, caused by radioactive decay of isotopes in the mantle and crust, and the primordial heat left over from planetary formation. Maybe something else is keeping Earth hot and active, like the effects of the Moon tides, or Earth being a younger planet wandered into older Solar System, or even exotic causes, like Earth passing through of dark energy region, causing heating of it's core! We just don't really know. What we do know is that Venus has a very slow retrograde rotation - that may account for its lack of magnetosphere.

Venus puts a considerable constraints into what Earth-like exoplanets may be like. Many could have relatively inactive interior, lack of IG magnetic field, and atmosphere consisting of chiefly CO2. This would make Earth one of the only few very special planets in the galaxy!

Anyway, I would really love to hear what other say about this on TWO! 😊

That's interesting, thanks for posting! My impression was the outgassing of CO2 from Venus happened at a faster rate than the Sun stripped the molecules off.

On a side note, Venus will form a triangular conjunction with Mars and the waxing crescent Moon this evening, for anyone who has a chance to look. The Moon sets around midnight tonight.

---

That's interesting, thanks for posting! My impression was the outgassing of CO2 from Venus happened at a faster rate than the Sun stripped the molecules off.

No worries. You're probably very right. I thought that, too. It's just common sense (not that there's much on the internet).

On Earth the CO2 is sequestered through biological, chemical, and physical processes, including absorption into the oceans and the rocks through plate subduction effects, as you'll know. This does not occur on Venus, so the CO2 just simply builds up. There are no active plate tectonics on Venus today, plus no rains, oceans, etc.

Apparently, there was a global resurfacing event at roughly 500 million years a ago; where massive flood basaltic type volcanic eruptions completely buried the previous surface of the planet, together with degassing, and planet has traditionally been thought to be quiescent since. This is most likely the reason why Venus surface is relatively young. Now, however, it's not clear whether the resurfacing event was a single catastrophic global event or series of flood basalt eruptions. Several spacecrafts have detected some tell tale signs of recent or ongoing volcanic activity.

Even if it is quiescent, there is still radioactive decay occurring in the mantle, just as it is on Earth today, so should be heating the interior again, so maybe to a point where another resurfacing event(s) will occur again at some point in the future (not seen much reference about this on the internet, but maybe you or someone could find a link on this).

Not quite outer space, but very nice spectacle of Earth lightning taken from space. 😃

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-66081621 .

Full Moons 2023 - There will be 2 Full moons in August!
Next one:  1 August - Sturgeon Moon - supermoon - I look forward to your photos...
https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/topics/full-moon-calendar 

August's Night Sky:
https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/blog/astronomy/night-sky-highlights-august-2023 

Perseid Meteors peak 12-13 August
https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/topics/perseid-meteor-shower-guide-uk-when-where-to-see 
 

---

Not sure where best to post this - but Mods please move it if you wish.
"A British-built spacecraft is expected to fall to Earth later on Friday, after completing a transformative mission to map the planet's winds.
The Aeolus satellite fired a laser down through the atmosphere to track the movement of air in any location, at every altitude, all around the world."
Aeolus: 'Impossible satellite' ready to fall to Earth
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-66326153 

---