The third episode of our epic series on space weather, produced in conjunction with MIT’s Haystack Observatory, just got posted on the SWFX web site. This is very timely, since I’m heading out to Los Angeles on Saturday for the American Astronomical Society meeting, where I’ll be giving a progress report on the whole SWFX project.
Each episode aims to present the basics of space weather in an approachable style in three minutes (although the first one came in a little longer because it was an overview).
Think of the episodes as bite-size tastes of the causes and effects of space weather. Some also focus on the many ways that atmospheric scientists study what happens to our planet — and our technology — when the Sun burps up a little space weather.
So, go check ’em out! I’ll write more about these episodes as the project progresses, and if you’re an educator, we’ll have some educational use feedback forms posted in a few weeks for your use. Happy viewing!
Those of us up here in the northern part of the U.S. (and the world) are no doubt rubbing our hands together to keep them warm now that the New Years’ cold temps are here for a while. At my place it got up to -8.3C (17F) today and we could feel every bit of it when we went out to shovel the snow.
However, that -8.3 C is positively balmy compared to what the now-silent Mars Phoenix Lander is experiencing at its perch in Mars’s frigid north polar region right now. The HIRISE blog posted the image below today, showing the Phoenix Lander sitting lonely and cold amid the frozen wastes as seen by the HIRISE camera aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. It’s mapping the surface of Mars from orbit and the team still takes a look at the Phoenix lander every chance it gets. The temperatures Phoenix is experiencing are much, much colder than anywhere here on Earth right now — probably hovering around -140 C or thereabouts (-220 F). I don’t know about you, but just looking at that scene makes me feel toasty and warm at -8.3 C!
