Earth & Space Weather

Space Weather Update~ CORONAL HOLE

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Submitted by Lia on

SPACE WEATHER FACT CHECK: Many readers are asking about a report in the Washington Examiner, which states that a Carrington-class solar storm narrowly missed Earth two weeks ago. There was no Carrington-class solar storm two weeks ago. On the contrary, solar activity was low throughout the month of July. The report is erroneous. The possibility of such a storm is, however, worth thinking about: A modern Carrington event would cause significant damage to our high-tech society. Solar flare alerts: text, voice.

FIRST PERSEIDS OF 2013: Earth is entering a broad stream of debris from comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle, source of the annual Perseid meteor shower. Although the shower won't peak until August 12-13, when Earth hits the densest part of the stream, the first Perseids are already arriving. "Despite poor weather over our network of meteor cameras, we detected three Perseid fireballs on July 30-31," reports Bill Cooke, head of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office. He made this plot showing the orbits of the meteoroids:

SHAKE AND BLOW Study suggests Costa Rica volcano powered by 'highway from hell'

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Submitted by Magikalspirit on

spacedaily-staff writers,New York (UPI) Jul 31, 2013

A Costa Rica volcano may have been fast-tracked for eruption triggered by magma rising over a few short months rather than thousands of years, researchers say.

A study by scientists at Columbia University is the latest to suggest deep, hot magma can set off an eruption fairly quickly, a university release said Wednesday.

That finding, from a study of Costa Rica's Irazu volcano, could potentially provide another tool for detecting an oncoming volcanic disaster, the researchers said.

"If we had had seismic instruments in the area at the time we could have seen these deep magmas coming," said study lead author Philipp Ruprecht, a vulcanologist at the university's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. "We could have had an early warning of months, instead of days or weeks."

Volcanoes Today, 1 Aug 2013: Pacaya, Heard

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Submitted by Magikalspirit on

volcanodiscovery Aug 1,2013

Pacaya (Guatemala): A surge in activity with increased strombolian explosions and the effusion of a lava flow occurred during 4 hours on 30 July, similar to the event from 30 May.
Explosions from the Mackenney crater reached heights of 250-300 m and a new lava flow started to flow onto the south side of the mountain through a deep notch in the crater.

The activity only lasted 4 hours, after which explosions almost disappeared and the lava flow ceased again.


Heard (Australia, Southern Indian Ocean): Recent satellite images suggest that a lava lake is most likely currently active in the summit crater of Mawson Peak.
NASA satellite infrared images show a very hot circular object of about 100-150 m in diameter that plausibly could only be produced by the strongly heat-radiating surface of a lava lake. Currently, no lava flows seem to be present on the other hand.

Read More: http://www.volcanodiscovery.com/volcanoes/today.html

Look for moon moving toward Jupiter before dawn August 2

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Submitted by Desert Gypsy on

Earthsky.org, 8/1/13, Deborah Byrd

The waning crescent moon shines between the planet Jupiter and the star Aldebaran before dawn on Friday, August 2

Here are two bright morning objects, easily seen on the sky’s dome in the predawn and dawn hours: the planet Jupiter and the moon. As seen from around the world tomorrow morning, on Friday, August 2, the moon will be shining between the dazzling planet Jupiter and Aldebaran, the brightest star in the constellation Taurus the Bull. Then keep watching for several more mornings! On the next morning – Saturday, August 3 – note that the moon has moved away from Aldebaran and closer to Jupiter. On Sunday morning, August 4, the scene will have shifted slightly again.

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