Antarctic Aurora outbreak...

QUIET SUN: Solar activity is low ... again. Continuing a trend that began in early May, the sun is mostly quiet with little chance of a significant flare on June 16th. NOAA forecasters put the odds of an X-class explosion at no more than 5%. Solar flare alerts: text, voice

ANTARCTIC AURORAS: With the approach of southern winter, night is falling across Antarctica. The night sky, however, is anything but dark. "On June 11th, the South Pole lit up with one of the best displays of auroras anyone has seen in years," reports Liz Widen, a science engineer wintering over at McMurdo Station. "The show lasted more an hour."

"They were extremely vivid and active," says Widen. "It was hard to keep taking photos, however, with a wind chill of -45 C."

More southern lights could be in the offing. NOAA forecasters estimate a 60% chance of polar geomagnetic storms on June 16th as Earth exits a high-speed solar wind stream. Aurora alerts: text, voice