VANISHING MOONS OF JUPITER: Tonight, Sept. 2nd-3rd, for the
first time in many years, the moons of Jupiter are going to
disappear. At least that's how it will seem when Io, Europa,
Ganymede and Callisto line up in front of and behind the giant
planet. A casual look through a backyard telescope will show no
moons at all. The 2-hour vanishing act begins at 9:43 p.m PDT.
Jupiter is easy to find right beside the nearly full Moon. [sky
On Sept. 2nd, a billion-ton coronal mass ejection (CME) slammed
into Earth's magnetic field. Campers in the Rocky Mountains woke
up in the middle of the night, thinking that the glow they saw
was sunrise. No, it was the Northern Lights. People in Cuba read
their morning paper by the red illumination of aurora borealis.
Earth was peppered by particles so energetic, they altered the
chemistry of polar ice. Hard to believe? It really happened--
exactly 150 years ago. This map shows where auroras were sighted
in the early hours of Sept. Above: Aurora sightings, Sept. 2,
1859. Image court