SPACE ROCKS FOUND: Meteorite hunters have found fragments of the minivan-sized asteroid that exploded over California on April 22nd. Meteorites landed in the vicinity of Sutter's Mill in El Dorado County, CA, the same place gold was discovered in 1848, triggering the California Gold Rush. Astronomers plan to study the fragments to learn more about the asteroid, specificially its composition and origin. News reports: #1, #2, #3.
AURORA WATCH: Earth's magnetic field is reverberating from three days of buffeting by a high-speed solar wind stream. Since April 23rd, auroras have been photographed in more than a dozen US states including Michigan, Nebraska, Kansas, Wisconsin, North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota, Colorado, Washington, and of course Alaska. Kameron Barge sends this picture from the North Fork of the Flathead River in Glacier National Park, Montana: