Green flashes at sunset are rare. Indeed, they were once thought mythological. Blue flashes are rarer still. On June 21st Göran Strand of Frösön, Sweden, saw them both in a single sunset:

"Tonight the weather was incredibly clear and fine, so I went out to photograph the sunset--and this was the result," says Strand. "The time interval between the first and last frames is 1 minute and 14 seconds."

Green flashes are formed when the prismatic action of the atmosphere splits the setting sun into basic R-G-B colors. Temperature inversions create a mirage, magnifying the green into an eye-catching flash.

Blues flashes are formed in the same way, but they are generally harder to see than green flashes, because blue flashes blend into the surrounding blue sky. When the air is exceptionally clear, however, the blue flash emerges.

www.spaceweather.com

In a new must-see video from NASA, Mars Science Lab team members preview the "seven minutes of terror" in store for Curiosity as the rover prepares to land on the Red Planet. Highly recommended.

Where is Curiosity ?

These up-to-the-minute computer simulations show the Mars Science Laboratory's current position on the journey between Earth and Mars.

NASA's next Mars rover, Curiosity, is slated to land on the Red Planet on Aug. 6, 2012 (EDT). Watch a real-time visualization of its journey through space and get up-to-date data sets using NASA's Eyes on the Solar System 3-D interactive. (Free browser plug-in required.)

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/index.html

Researching the internet for information has taught me so many things. First of all, explore. Remain open and take the time to follow your heart and the leads and little nudges you’re given.

I know I’m preaching to much of the choir here, but these basic principles have such a wealth of wisdom to be gleaned.

We also soon find out the deeper one gets in the labyrinth of rabbitholelandia, the lonelier it appears to become. It isn’t really in the cosmic sense, but we become estranged to our previous ways of thinking and quickly realize our very lives are about to be drastically changed when we truly adopt the new Truths that are becoming increasingly apparent.

Baby AND the Bathwater – Out They Go!
And estranged we become. Thankfully. The first period of a genuine awakening is the most difficult for most since everything, as in everything, gets reset. There’s really nothing to hold on to from your past or previous conceptions of anything if you’ve had a bonafide wake up. Oh, there are ideas and some concepts that seem to endure from tidbits learned along the way, but it’s not the same.

Everything takes on a new living, continually changing, wonderfully creative amorphous nature.

Quantum physics has one of the best explanations if you want to try to rationalize the experience of awakening to consciousness. We’re living in a land of probabilities and nothing exists except in our minds when we aim our attention in some direction. Then it theoretically “exists”. But it’s just probabilities in a bunch of empty, yet energized space, coagulated by thought and intention within the perceiver.

That clear enough? Ha!

You can read the rest of this interesting and perceptive article by Zen Gardner at: 
http://www.zengardner.com/dont-look-for-answers-find-the-questions/

For nearly 35 years, NASA’s Voyager 1 probe has been hurtling toward the edge of the solar system, flying through the dark void on a mission unlike anything attempted before.  One day, mission controllers hope, Voyager 1 will leave the solar system behind and enter the realm of the stars—interstellar space. That day may be upon us.  At the edge of the solar system, Voyager 1 is reporting a sharp increase in cosmic rays that could herald the spacecraft's long-awaited breakthrough into interstellar space. 

"The latest data from Voyager 1 indicate that we are clearly in a new region where things are changing quickly," says Ed Stone, Voyager project scientist at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.  This is very exciting. We are approaching the solar system's final frontier."

The “frontier” he’s referring to is the edge of the heliosphere, a great magnetic bubble that surrounds the sun and planets.  The heliosphere is the sun’s own magnetic field inflated to gargantuan proportions by the solar wind.  Inside lies the solar system - “home.”  Outside lies interstellar space, where no spacecraft has gone before.

A telltale sign of the frontier’s approach is the number of cosmic rays hitting Voyager 1.  Cosmic rays are high energy particles such as protons and helium nuclei accelerated to near-light speed by distant supernovas and black holes. The heliosphere protects the solar system from these subatomic bullets, deflecting and slowing many of them before they can reach the inner planets.  As Voyager approaches the frontier, the number of cosmic rays has gone up.

More at - http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2012/21jun_finalfrontier/

China's space program took another leap forward this week when Chinese astronauts onboard the Shenzhou 9 spacecraft successfully docked with the Tiangong 1 space station. Not long after the docking, which occurred on Monday, June 18th, the joined craft passed directly in front of the sun over Xinzhou, China, where amateur astronomer Su Shaojie recorded the split-second transit:

 After the Shengzhou 9 successfully docked with Tiangong-1 at 14:07 Beijing time, I was happy to get this opportunity to take a picture of the two spaceship transiting the Sun," says Shaojie. "I used CalSky to predict the timing."

The mission's crew of three includes the first Chinese female astronaut, fighter pilot Liu Yang, aged 33.  Yang, along with fellow taikonauts Commander Jing Haipeng, 46, and flight engineer, Liu Wang, 42, will spend the days ahead familiarizing themselves with their new space station, conducting scientific experiments, and practicing space dock procedures. They're expected to return to Earth before the end of the month.

The newly-manned Tiangong 1 is visible in the night sky, glowing about as brightly as a 1st magnitude star. Check the Simple Satellite Tracker or your smartphone for sighting opportunities.                         www.spaceweather.com

It’s a world in which the official Church investigation of Virgin Mary sightings is carefully regulated while cardinals in the Roman Curia, the Vatican’s administrative and judicial apparatus, wield power with absolutely no checks and the pope’s private correspondence turns up in the desk drawers of a butler. It’s a completely different apparition of the Virgin Mary that has pulled the Vatican and the Catholic Church into a new crisis, whose end and impact can only be surmised: the appearance of a source in the heart of the Church, a conspiracy against the pope and a leak code-named “Maria.”

Since the end of May, the pope’s former butler, Paolo Gabriele, has been detained in a 35-square-meter (377-square-foot) cell at the Vatican, with a window but no TV. Using the code name “Maria,” he allegedly smuggled faxes and letters out of the pope’s private quarters. But it remains unclear who was directing him to do so. Even with Gabriele’s arrest, the leak still hasn’t been plugged. More documents were released to the public last week, documents intended primarily to damage two close associates of Pope Benedict XVI: his private secretary, Georg Gänswein, and Cardinal Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican’s top administrator. According to one document, “hundreds” of other secret documents would be published if Gänswein and Bertone weren’t “kicked out of the Vatican. This is blackmail,” says Vatican expert Marco Politi. “It’s like threatening total war.”

The Vatican is disintegrating into dozens of competing interest groups. In the past, it was the Jesuits, the Benedictines, the Franciscans and other orders that competed for respect and sway within the Vatican court. But their influence has waned, and they have now been replaced primarily by the so-called “new clerical communities” that bring the large, cheering crowds to Masses celebrated by the pope: the Neocatechumenate, the Legionaries of Christ and the traditionalists of the Society of St. Pius X (SSPX) and the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter — not to mention the worldwide “santa mafia” of Opus Dei. They all have their open and clandestine agents in and around the Vatican, and they all own real estate and run universities, institutes and other educational facilities in Rome. –Spiegel

Geomagnetic storms are circling Earth's poles in the wake of a double CME impact on June 16th. According to analysts at the Goddard Space Weather Lab, the hit strongly compressed Earth's magnetic field, directly exposing some geosynchronous satellites to solar wind plasma. After nightfall in North America, blue and purple auroras spread along the US-Canadian border. Justin Phillips sends this photo from New Auburn, Wisconsin:

"Fireflies added to the colors of extremely bright pink and purple auroras in west central Wisconsin," says Phillips. "What a night!"

Solar wind conditions in the wake of the CME favor continued disturbances. NOAA forecasters estimate a 55% chance of more high-latitude geomagnetic storms during the next 24 hours.                   www.spaceweather.com

For the second day in a row, an active region on the sun has erupted with a coronal mass ejection (CME), blasting a beautifully dynamic magnetic bubble of energetic plasma in the direction of Earth. It is powering through interplanetary space at a breakneck speed of 1,360 kilometers per second (that's over 3 million miles per hour!)

A NASA spacecraft -- one of two solar satellites called the Solar-Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO) that are orbiting the sun in opposite directions -- watched the CME expand and get launched into interplanetary space from a perfect vantage point.

On June 13, AR1504 erupted, producing a M1 class flare that was accompanied by a CME. According to Spaceweather.com, that CME will hit Venus on June 15th, Earth on June 16th and Mars on June 19th. Today's CME, launched from the same location, is predicted to also slam into the Earth's magnetic field on June 16, potentially generating a geomagnetic storm.

If the conditions are just right, a CME's magnetic field can compress and distort the magnetic field of our planet, called the magnetosphere. If the rotation of the CME's magnetic field is aligned just right, it may become "geoeffective," causing the CME's field to connect with the Earth's magnetic field.

Should this occur, a geomagnetic storm may result, causing the injection of energetic solar particles into the magnetosphere and a rapid release of stored energy. The result is often spectacular displays of aurorae at high latitudes and potentially some interference to modern technology. Communication interference may occur and, during extreme geomagnetic storms, airliners may be directed away from polar regions and electrical surges in national power grids may be detected.
http://beforeitsnews.com/story/2265/844/Sun_Blasts_Huge_Magnetic_Bubble_At_Earth.html

CHANCE OF FLARES: Big sunspot AR1504 has developed a 'beta-gamma-delta' magnetic field that harbors energy for strong solar flares. NOAA forecasters estimate a 65% chance of M-flares and a 5% chance of X-flares during the next 24 hours.

Sunspot 1504 has developed a delta-class magnetic field that poses a threat for Earth-directed X-flares.   Image credit: SDO/HMI

INCOMING CMES: On June 14th, for the second day in a row, sunspot AR1504 erupted and hurled a CME toward Earth. The fast-moving (1360 km/s) cloud is expected to sweep up a previous CME and deliver a combined blow to Earth's magnetic field on June 16th around 10:16 UT. This animation (go to www.spaceweather.com) shows the likely progression of the approaching storm:

According to the forecast track prepared by analysts at the Goddard Space Weather Lab, the CMEs will also hit Venus on June 15th and Mars on June 19th. Because Venus and Mars do not have global magnetic fields to protect them, both of those planets will probably lose tiny amounts of atmosphere when the CMEs strike.   Here on Earth, the impact is likely to trigger a geomagnetic storm around the poles. High-latitude sky watchers should be alert for auroras on June 16th.

Movie extras: NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory captured the UV glow from today's M2-class solar flare. The STEREO-Ahead spacecraft photographed the massive CME.        www.spaceweather.com

NOAA forecasters estimated a 40% chance of M-class solar flares today as a phalanx of sunspots turns toward Earth. The most likely source of geoeffective eruptions is sunspot AR1504, which has grown into an active region almost 10 times wider than Earth.

The ongoing explosion is taking hours to unfold, which means it is very powerful despite its middling M1-peak. Long duration flares often hurl coronal mass ejections (CMEs) into space, and this one is probably no exception. Stay tuned for updates about a possible Earth-directed CME.                www.spaceweather.com

Moment of Love

The brief statement below reminds us of the common humanity we share with all people in our world. Take a moment to read these words slowly and drink in the beautiful message here. By choosing to focus less on what divides us, and more on what unites us, we can more effectively build a brighter future for us all.

Every person in the world has a heart.

Every heart has a place within
that wants only to love and be loved.

Let us connect with that
place of love in our own heart
and in the hearts of all around us.

Let us take a moment now
to open to the heart connection
we share with all people through love.


To help spread this Moment of Love, click here. And don't miss our collection of inspiring news articles, videos, inspirational resources, and our heart and mind expanding free online courses providing rich inspiration and education. Thanks for taking this moment to invite heartfelt love into our lives and into our world.

http://www.momentoflove.org/

Crackling with C-class solar flares, a phalanx of sunspots (1504 - 1507) is
turning toward Earth.

Credit: SDO/HMI     
www.spaceweather.com

Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. For we were all educated by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to be a part of. Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.

Now if the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body.

The eye cannot say to the hand, "I don't need you!" And the head cannot say to the feet, "I don't need you!" On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.

Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. And God has placed in the church first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, of helping, of guidance, and of different kinds of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? Now eagerly desire the greater gifts.

GREGG BRADEN at http://www.greggbraden.net

The 2012 Transit of Venus is finished, and it lived up to the hype. The inky-black silhouette of the second planet was wondrous to behold as it slowly glided across the solar disk on June 5th and 6th. Images from around the world may be found in the Realtime Transit of Venus Photo Gallery.

For the first time, a spacecraft has taken Hubble-quality photos of a Venus transit. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory recorded the event from geosyncronous orbit 36,000 km above Earth's surface. Click to view sample of the data SDO gathered.

SDO was able to track Venus across the full disk of the sun using a variety of white-light and extreme ultraviolet filters. The resulting movies are not only visually beautiful, but also full of scientific potential, especially for researchers who wish to study the strange dynamics of Venus's atmosphere.
www.spaceweather.com

SOLAR WIND: Solar wind speed: 687.7 km/sec density: 1.4 protons/cm3.
A  high-speed stream of solar wind is buffeting Earth's magnetic field, setting the stage for possible geomagnetic activity.
NOAA forecasters estimate a 60% chance of polar geomagnetic storms during the next 24 hours.

TRANSIT OF VENUS:No one reading this will still be alive the next time Venus crosses the sun in 2117. That makes today special. On June 5th at 3:09 pm PDT, the second planet begins its historic 7-hour transit of the solar disk. Observers on parts of all seven continents (map) will witness something like this:

The timing favors observers in the mid-Pacific where the sun is high overhead during the crossing. In the USA, the transit will be at its best around sunset. Creative photographers will have a field day imaging the swollen red sun "punctured" by the circular disk of Venus.
Stay tuned to Spaceweather.com's realtime gallery for constantly updated images of the transit. Another photo-stream of interest comes from the International Space Station where Don Pettit will be the first man in history to photograph a Venus transit from space. There are also many live webcasts of the transit from locations around the world: #1, #2, #3, #4.

BEFORE THE TRANSIT: As Venus approaches the sun, it turns its nightside toward Earth. This turning transforms Venus into a rarely-seen thin ring of light. Lorenzo Comolli photographed the phenomenon from Tradate, Italy, on June 4th:

The effect is caused by particles in upper layers of Venus's atmosphere which scatter sunlight around the circumference of the planet. The ring is very difficult to observe, and often only black-belt astrophotographers are able to record the phenomenon.

"This picture was taken while Venus was a scant 2°17' from the sun's center, and it was very difficult to obtain due to the extreme proximity of the solar limb," says Comolli. "Extreme care was due to avoid the sun light entering the telescope. The extension of the crescent to form a nearly complete ring was remarkable on June 4, while nearly invisible on June 2. Another interesting observation is the limb brightening in Venus's southern hemisphere between 50° to 70° latitude. For confirmation, I obtained a second image using a W25 filter (red) that shows the presence of the brightening in the same way."
www.spaceweather.com