Oh, and they also said there's a 60% chance of G1-class geomagnetic storms tomorrow, June 1st, when a solar wind stream is expected to hit Earth's magnetic field that the southern hemisphere will be able to view best.
The gaseous material is flowing from an equatorial hole in the sun's atmosphere. High-latitude sky watchers should be alert for auroras, especially in the southern hemisphere where autumn darkness favors visibility. Free: Aurora Alerts. http://spaceweather.com/services/?PHPSE ... 1up8cpqjd5
NOCTILUCENT CLOUD SEASON BEGINS
"NASA's Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere (AIM) spacecraft has spotted its first noctilucent clouds (NLCs) of the 2018 season. They are the electric-blue puffs circled in this image of the Arctic taken by AIM's CIPS instrument on May 27th:
"The summer season for noctilucent clouds has begun," says Cora Randall, AIM science team member at the University of Colorado. "We spotted the first hint of NLCs in our data on May 23rd; now they are brightening rapidly."
NLCs are Earth's highest clouds. Seeded by meteoroids, they float at the edge of space more than 80 km above the planet's surface. The clouds form when summertime wisps of water vapor waft up and crystallize around specks of meteor smoke.
Previous data from AIM have shown that NLCs are like a great "geophysical light bulb." They turn on every year in late spring, reaching almost full intensity over a period of 5 to 10 days. This means observers on the ground ... "
http://spaceweather.com/
