Category: Cosmic Rays - Ascension Now

A SUDDEN DECREASE IN COSMIC RADIATION:

3/5/2023

Last month, during the late hours of April 23rd, a CME hit Earth's magnetic field. The impact sparked a severe geomagnetic storm with auroras so bright they could be seen as far south as Texas. Invisible to the human eye, something else happened. There was a sudden decrease in cosmic radiation:

In a matter of hours, cosmic rays peppering Earth's atmosphere dropped to their lowest levels since 2015. Neutron monitors in Oulu, Finland, detected the drop, which lasted for days.
This is called a "Forbush decrease," named after American physicist Scott Forbush who studied cosmic rays in the early 20th century. It happens when a coronal mass ejection (CME) sweeps past Earth and pushes galactic cosmic rays away from our planet. It sounds counterintuitive, but big solar storms can cause sharp decreases in space radiation.
This Forbush decrease is over, but more are in the offing. Solar Max is coming and soon the sun will be hurling many more CMEs in our direction. Their cumulative effect could create a sustained decrease in cosmic radiation, lowering dose rates for astronauts and air travelers. Stay tuned for updates.
https://spaceweather.com/

COSMIC RAYS SINK TO A 6-YEAR LOW:

31/12/2022

Cosmic rays reaching Earth just hit a six-year low. Neutron counters in Oulu, Finland, registered the sudden decrease on Dec. 26th when a coronal mass ejection (CME) hit Earth's magnetic field:

The CME swept aside galactic cosmic rays near our planet, abruptly reducing radiation levels. Researchers call this a "Forbush Decrease," after American physicist Scott Forbush, who studied cosmic rays in the early 20th century.
The Dec. 26th event continues a trend that began in 2020. Since then, cosmic ray fluxes have been fitfully decreasing as one CME after another hit Earth. The reason is Solar Cycle 25, which began around that time and has been gaining strength. The Forbush Decreases are adding up.
Scott Forbush was the first to notice the yin-yang relationship between solar activity and cosmic rays. When one goes up, the other goes down. CMEs play a big role in this relationship. The solar storm clouds contain tangled magnetic fields that do a good job scattering cosmic rays away from our planet.
A recent paper in the Astrophysical Journal looked at the last two solar cycles and compared the daily rate of CMEs to the strength of cosmic rays near Earth. This plot shows the results:

At the peak of Solar Cycle 24, the sun was producing more than 5 CMEs per day. At the same time, galactic cosmic rays (GCRs) dropped more than 60%.
Neutron counts are now at their lowest level since 2016. If current trends continue, cosmic ray levels will plunge even further in the years ahead, perhaps even lower than Solar Cycle 24. This is good news for astronauts and polar air travelers who will benefit from less radiation.
FAQ: Why neutrons? When cosmic rays strike Earth’s atmosphere, they produce a spray of secondary particles that rain down on Earth. Among these particles are neutrons, which can make it all the way down to Earth's surface. Researchers at the Sodankyla Geophysical Observatory in Oulu, Finland, have been counting neutrons every day since 1964, providing an unparalleled record of cosmic rays for almost 60 years.
www.spaceweather.com

Pam Gregory: Insights from the Galactic Center

29/4/2021

LeeHarrisEnergy

Pam Gregory, acclaimed astrologist and author, shares with Lee how deep space astrology is showing a new map of the current shift in consciousness and galactic evolution - and the impact that can have for us as human beings living through this time, in this excerpt from their interview for the Impact the World podcast.

For the full episode, please visit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PY69M...

RED SPRITES IN HIGH DEFINITION:

15/8/2019

According to NASA, cosmic rays are intensifying. Last week, on Aug. 6th, Roger Spinner of Montsevelier, Switzerland, witnessed a likely side-effect. "Jellyfish sprites were leaping above a thunderstorm in northern Italy about 215 km away," says Spinner. "I recorded an HD video of the display using my Sony A7s." Here is a single frame:

As the storm raged over Italy's Lombardy region, Spinner's camera recorded three magnificent clusters of red sprites in rare detail.

"For me, personally, these shots are special," says Spinner, who has been monitoring sprites in Europe for more than 7 years. "Although three jellyfish sprites in one evening is nothing unusual for a strong thunderstorm, color videos of sprites in HD or 4K quality haven't been possible for very long. The Sony A7s came on the market only a few years ago."

Cosmic rays may be helping Spinner capture such images. The rays are intensifying because of Solar Minimum. During this phase of the solar cycle, radiation from deep space penetrates the sun's weakening magnetic defenses and enters Earth's atmosphere more than usual. Some researchers believe that cosmic rays provide the ionizing "spark" that triggers sprites.

Spinner knows where to point his cameras thanks, in part, to live lightning maps published by Blitzortung.org. Mesoscale convective systems with strong lightning tend to produce sprites as well. It helps to be at least a hundred kilometers away from a storm in order to see over the top of the thunderhead. "Even if you know exactly where the thunderstorms are and where the sprites might occur, however, it is always a surprise what kind of spectacle nature actually offers you," says Spinner.
www.spaceweather.com

Earth hit by highest energy photons ever recorded from the Crab Nebula

25/6/2019

MIT Technology Review; Fri, 21 Jun 2019 18:43 UTC

© NASA

The Tibetan Plateau is a vast elevated plain almost five kilometers above sea level, sometimes called the Roof of the World. It is bordered to the south by the world's highest mountain range and to the north by desert lands. It is one of the most isolated places on Earth.

But the extreme altitude makes it a useful place for scientists. In 1990, they built an observatory here to study the showers of subatomic particles that rain down from the upper atmosphere whenever it is hit by a high-energy cosmic ray. This work is better done at high altitude because there is less atmosphere to absorb the particles.

Since then, the so-called Tibet Air Shower Array has recorded vast numbers of high-energy cosmic rays, particles accelerated to huge energies by astrophysical phenomena such as supernovas, active galactic nuclei, and mysterious as-yet-unidentified sources.

But the array also picks up air showers caused by a different source - high-energy photons. These mysterious photons are also created by astrophysical phenomena such as the interaction between high-energy particles and the cosmic microwave background. Consequently, they can provide a unique insight into these processes and the environments in which they occur.

Over the years, the Tibet Air Shower Array has spotted plenty of these photons with energies up to dozens of teraelectronvolts (TeV 1012). That's roughly equivalent to the highest-energy photons that can be created on Earth. But nobody has ever observed more powerful photons.

Until now. Today, researchers from the Tibet Air Shower Gamma Collaboration say they have observed photons with energies above 100 TeV for the first time, including a remarkable photon with an energy of almost 500 TeV. This single photon has about the same energy as a falling Ping-Pong ball and is the highest-energy photon ever recorded.

The collaboration has also worked out where these photons are coming from: the Crab Nebula, the remnants of a supernova that occurred in 1054 AD in the Perseus Arm of the Milky Way, some 6,500 light-years from Earth.

.... read more at https://www.sott.net/article/415559-Earth-hit-by-highest-energy-photons-ever-recorded-from-the-Crab-Nebula

NAKED EYE SPRITE STORMS:

1/5/2019

Have you ever seen a sprite? Some say it's impossible. The strange and fleeting forms of red lightning materialize above thunderheads, then disappear again in less time than it takes to blink. Yet this week veteran sprite chaser Paul Smith says he did see them: "I've watched a number with my bare eyes over the last two big storms in Kansas."

Above: Naked-eye sprites over Kansas on April 28th. Credit: Paul Smith.

"It has been an amazing experience that, quite honestly, has left me somewhat emotional," says Smith. "I am now convinced that before the days of light pollution, these were observed more often than we know."
Sprites are an exotic form of electricity that leap up from storm clouds instead of down like ordinary lightning. Although sprites have been reported for at least a century, many scientists did not believe they existed until after 1989 when sprites were accidentally photographed by researchers from the University of Minnesota and confirmed by video cameras onboard the space shuttle.
Smith has been chasing and photographing sprites for years in the stormy Great Plains around Oklahoma and Kansas. "This is the first time I have seen them with my unaided eyes," he says. "I believe that these were unusually bright." Here are two examples of clusters he caught simultaneously with his eyes and camera.

His eyes registered fewer details than his camera--but he still saw plenty. "The jellyfish shapes I saw had a fiery orange/red color," he adds. "I didn't see the bottoms of the tendrils, but I had an impression of the heads and beads. Storm chasers to the west of me were also viewing with their naked eyes."
The underlying physics of sprites is still not fully understood. Some models hold that cosmic rays help them get started by creating conductive paths in the atmosphere. If cosmic rays do indeed spark sprites, now is a good time to look for them because cosmic rays are nearing a Space Age high.
More examples of naked-eye sprites may be found on Smith's Facebook page.
www.spaceweather.com

SPRITES AND COSMIC RAYS:

23/7/2017

Last night, cameras in Czechia recorded a magnificent display of sprites leaping up from a thunderstorm in neighboring Austria. Photographer Martin Popek of Nýdek, Czechia, selected this specimen from many frames he recorded:

"The storm was about 390km away," says Popek, "and the sprite was huge. It stretched 50 km to 90 km above the ground below."Sometimes called "space lightning," sprites are a true space weather phenomenon. They inhabit the upper atmosphere alongside auroras, meteors and noctilucent clouds. Some researchers believe they are linked to cosmic rays: subatomic particles from deep space striking the top of Earth's atmosphere produce secondary electrons that, in turn, could provide the spark that triggers sprites.

The link to cosmic rays is particularly interesting at this time. Despite a brief reduction in cosmic rays last week caused by the sweeping action of a passing CME, cosmic rays are intensifying. For the past two years, space weather balloons have observed a steady increase in deep space radiation penetrating our atmosphere. This increase is largely due to the decline in the solar cycle. Flagging solar wind pressure and weakening sunspot magnetic fields allow more cosmic rays into the inner solar system--a trend which is expected to continue for years to come. [higher vibrational light/energy penetrating our solar system and Earth. MS] These changes could add up to more sprites.

Although sprites have been seen for at least a century, most scientists did not believe they existed until after 1989 when sprites were photographed by cameras onboard the space shuttle. Now "sprite chasers" routinely photograph sprites from their own homes. "I used up a Watec 910HX security camera with UFOCapture software to catch my sprites," says Popek.

Cosmic Rays in the Atmosphere

2/10/2016

Updated: Sept. 29 2016 // Next Flight: Oct. 1, 2016

Sept. 20, 2016: Readers, thank you for your patience while we continue to develop this new section of Spaceweather.com. We've been working to streamline our data reduction, allowing us to post results from balloon flights much more rapidly, and we have developed a new data product, shown here:

This plot displays radiation measurements not only in the stratosphere, but also at aviation altitudes. Dose rates are expessed as multiples of sea level. For instance, we see that boarding a plane that flies at 25,000 feet exposes passengers to dose rates ~10x higher than sea level. At 40,000 feet, the multiplier is closer to 50x. These measurements are made by our usual cosmic ray payload as it passes through aviation altitudes en route to the stratosphere over California.

What is this all about? Approximately once a week, Spaceweather.com and the students of Earth to Sky Calculus fly space weather balloons to the stratosphere over California. These balloons are equipped with radiation sensors that detect cosmic rays, a surprisingly "down to Earth" form of space weather. Cosmic rays can seed clouds, trigger lightning, and penetrate commercial airplanes. Furthermore, there are studies ( #1, #2, #3, #4) linking cosmic rays with cardiac arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death in the general population. Our latest measurements show that cosmic rays are intensifying, with an increase of more than 12% since 2015:

Why are cosmic rays intensifying? The main reason is the sun. Solar storm clouds such as coronal mass ejections (CMEs) sweep aside cosmic rays when they pass by Earth. During Solar Maximum, CMEs are abundant and cosmic rays are held at bay. Now, however, the solar cycle is swinging toward Solar Minimum, allowing cosmic rays to return. Another reason could be the weakening of Earth's magnetic field, which helps protect us from deep-space radiation.

The radiation sensors onboard our helium balloons detect X-rays and gamma-rays in the energy range 10 keV to 20 MeV. These energies span the range of medical X-ray machines and airport security scanners.

The data points in the graph above correspond to the peak of the Reneger-Pfotzer maximum, which lies about 67,000 feet above central California. When cosmic rays crash into Earth's atmosphere, they produce a spray of secondary particles that is most intense at the entrance to the stratosphere. Physicists Eric Reneger and Georg Pfotzer discovered the maximum using balloons in the 1930s and it is what we are measuring today.
www.spaceweather.com