Cosmic rays come from distant supernova explosions and other violent events across the cosmos.
SPACEWEATHER.COM NEWS: 03/21/2025
NEW EVIDENCE THAT COSMIC RAYS SPARK LIGHTNING: Every second, almost 50 bolts of lightning zig-zag across the skies of Earth. Despite centuries of study, however, researchers still aren’t sure how the bolts get started. Electric fields in thunderclouds are often too weak to ignite a powerful discharge.
A new study just published in the Journal of Geophysical Research may have solved the mystery.
“We believe that that most lightning flashes in thunderstorms are ignited by cosmic ray showers,” says the study’s lead author Xuan-Min Shao, a senior scientist at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico.
To investigate the earliest moments of lightning formation, Shao and colleagues built a radio interferometer named “BIMAP-3D.” Consisting of an array of 8 antennas in Los Alamos, BIMAP-3D can make three dimensional images of lightning and pinpoint the bolts inside thunderclouds. Here’s an example:
This is a lightning bolt from a massive thunderstorm that passed by Los Alamos on July 30, 2022. BIMAP-3D imaged more than 300 bolts during the 90-minute storm. It was a treasure trove of data.
The experimenters realized that some of the bolts they observed happened in parts of the storm where electric fields were too weak to cause the “Initial Breakdown Event” (IBE)–the initial spark that sets the lightning in motion. Modern theories of relativistic electron avalanche couldn’t explain what they saw. Their suspicions soon focused on cosmic rays.
Cosmic rays are high energy particles that come from distant supernova explosions and other violent events across the cosmos. They strike Earth’s atmosphere all the time, creating a secondary spray of particles called “cosmic ray showers.” Regular readers are familiar with these showers because we routinely monitor them using Earth to Sky cosmic ray balloons over California.
One of the important things about cosmic ray showers is that they contain antimatter–positrons as well as ordinary electrons. The Los Alamos 3D lightning maps contained strong evidence for positrons. Electrons and positrons are bent in opposite directions by Earth’s magnetic field, so they leave opposite imprints on the lightning’s polarization, which BIMAP-3D also measured.
“It took me a while to figure this out,” admits Shao. “I started with electrons only at the beginning, but could not explain the observations. With both electrons and positrons involved, all the observations can be consistently explained.”
Positrons clinched the case for cosmic rays. “The fact that a cosmic ray shower provides an ionized path in the cloud that otherwise lacks free electrons strongly favor the inference that most lightning flashes are ignited by cosmic rays,” the authors wrote.
In fact, it’s still unclear how much of Earth’s lightning is sparked by cosmic rays. Many more storms need to be studied with this method to improve the statistics. “This will require a lot of long-term and good quality lightning data,” Shao says.
Stay tuned! And meanwhile, read the original research here.
A Star May Explode Next Week In Once-In-80-Years Event — What To Know
Forbes Article Mar 20, 2025
by Jamie Carter, Senior Contributor
Jamie Carter is an award-winning reporter who covers the night sky.
Scientists have announced that a dim star in a constellation easily visible after dark from the Northern Hemisphere is finally on the verge of exploding. The binary star system, called T Corona Borealis (TCrB), dramatically brightens approximately every 80 years and was last observed doing so in 1946, making it a once-in-a-lifetime event. It could become visible to the naked eye next week.
A star in the T Corona Borealis constellation is on the verge of exploding, according to astronomers (Getty Nova Illustration)
Key Facts
- According to empirical extrapolations, the long-anticipated “nova” (new star) is thought to be heading for an eruption on Thursday, March 27, 2025, after which it’s predicted to become visible to the naked eye for a few nights. It should become about as bright as the North Star, the 48th brightest star in the night sky.
- T Corona Borealis is a binary star system around 3,000 light-years away in the constellation Corona Borealis, the “Northern Crown.” It consists of a white dwarf star (a star that’s exhausted its fuel and is cooling down) and a red giant star (a star that’s cooling and expanding as it ages, expelling material as it does.
- Over time, the white dwarf accumulates material spilling from the red giant star until it finally triggers a thermonuclear explosion. This explosion causes a sudden and dramatic increase in brightness, allowing the star, usually too dim to see, to become visible to the naked eye from Earth.
- There are records of TCrB exploding in 1787 and 1866 as well as in 1946, making it a predictable event seen by different generations of astronomers. That’s also the case with Halley’s comet, which comes close to Earth every 76 years.
Divine Signs and Mayan Time and Synchronicities of Nature
If Lightning is triggered by cosmic events, and Lightning creates rain, then Water is an Offering from Cosmos. Offering/MULUC (trecena) is the symbol of “water everywhere from the cosmos to our own tears.”
MULUC represents the “Resurrected Spirit of Christ.” We are born through Water. By Sacred traditions, we are Reborn through Water. MULUC leads a cycle of Light of Divine Inspiration, and holding the Power to Heal on a mass scale. Every scale has an equal and opposite extreme. The Source of Spirit’s Resurrection is a Force of Energy of a Nova, lightyears away from Earth.
In synchronicity with the Season of Lent, we make a Sacrifice in Faith God’s Divine Order. We are Inspired to be Reborn in the Light of Life and Love everlasting. The Test of Faith is to not accept anything less than the Dream that is written in our Heart. Love will find it’s Way. God holds the Power to touch our Heart, between the extremes of Heaven and Earth.
The Yod, finger of God, is a Light of realization that descends as “lightning in the blood,” the Sixth Sense of the Heart. An Epiphany grasps our Heart and sends “lightning in the blood” rushing through us to the Crown as the Quickening of our Spirit. In the Year of the Snake, we’re Enlightened by a Source of Spirit beyond the Milky Way.
The Creator’s Breath is heaven scent. Solar Winds carry Hydrogen into Earth’s atmosphere. The Earth’s natural source of Hydrogen is generated by Serpentinization. Serpentinization is the interaction of seawater with iron- and magnesium-rich (ultramafic) igneous rocks in the ocean floor, producing approximately 80% of the world’s hydrogen. (Search “hydrogen from solar winds,” and “natural sources of hydrogen”)
The Nova in the Corona Borealis “Northern Crown” is overdue. Previous forecasts predicted “any day” in September 2024. There is a Divine Order for Time and Truth from Above – When our Eyes are open to See and our Ears are open to hear and Comprehend a Divine Meaning and Purpose, and the Truth of the Holy Spirit.
HAPPY SPRING EQUINOX: March 20, 2025
AURORAS LOVE EQUINOXES: Today is the first day of northern spring. That’s good news for sky watchers because auroras love equinoxes. Researchers call it the “Russell-McPherron effect.” At this time of year, cracks form in Earth’s magnetic field. Even a weak stream of solar wind can penetrate to spark a good display. Happy Spring!
A diagram showing Venus’s orbit and its positions at conjunction and greatest elongation. Credit: Pete Lawrence – SkyAtNightMagazine.com
Venus As the Morning Star, After March 23, 2025
Venus has been an evening beacon in early 2025, but that’s about to change as the planet heads towards inferior conjunction on 23 March, the position in its orbit closest to Earth.
Thereafter, it will begin to emerge as a morning object in the sky.
THE TRECENA OF OFFERING/MULUC: THE SACRED EXCHANGE
MAYAN CALENDAR DAYKEEPER’S JOURNAL
4 Road/EB (Cherokee, Rattlesnake Tooth), Destiny Kin 212, Position 12
March 20, 2025, 03/20/2025; Last Round: July 3, 2024, 07/03/2024
The previous post on the Spring Equinox 2025 includes
more Signs and Synchronicities of the Spring Equinox from the Sacred Calendar
THE TRECENA OF OFFERING/MULUC: HEALING FOR OUR HUMAN EMOTIONS
Visit the 13-Day Trecena Guide Page for the “Tzolk’in Field Guide: A Daily Practice for Personal Discernment.” My gift for the Tzolk’in round offers an overview for each 13-day trecena and the aspects of each day of the Tzolk’in round. The page also offers a link to resources for your own practice of counting the days to conceive your own discernment of the Meaning of Time.
4TH SEASON: 1 Wisdom/CIB begins the 4th Season of the Tzolk’in – VOLUME 2: Tzolk’in Seasons 3 and 4 (PUBLISHED SEPTEMBER 20, 2020)
NOTE: You can use Ian’s calculator to find your Mayan birthday, or other milestone events to see the synchronicity of Time. The Daykeeper Resources link offers a wide variety of resources to count the time.
4 Road/EB (Cherokee, Rattlesnake Tooth) – Day 4 of 13 of the 1 Offering/MULUC trecena
Ian Xel Lungold, 12 Sun/AHAU. Ian’s last Dream was to be of service from the otherside, among the Legion of Light.
Descriptions by Ian Xel Lungold (12 Sun/AHAU), wisdom and Tzolk’in calculator preserved on MayanMajix.com
Galactic Tone 4: Stability; the cube is most stable of all forms and establishes volume by definition of height, length, depth and breadth; 4 directions establish orientation. The energy of 4 sets the parameters, which establish the freedoms and barriers needed to create a game, work, or relationship.
Road/EB: The bearer of time and conductor of destiny; also known as Human; these persons open the road and guide to the future groups, communities and individuals alike. Likable, obedient, dedicated hard workers and organizers, Road persons are fortunate in business and travel. Many become caretakers of the poor, sick, or old people, where they may make personal sacrifices. Road is sometimes referred to as the sign of grass, which is the most bountiful of all life forms, but is also the most humble. Road persons are affectionate and emphatic; they are easily hurt but slow to anger. Holding in of negative emotions and unexpressed resentment can lead to illness, a poisoned opinion of others and a false bravado for this sun sign.
A GOOD DAY TO: Do some community service.
Cherokee, Rattlesnake Tooth/KANU’GA: Symbol is Rainbow, a delicate display of electromagnetic rays of the SUN. The Natal day sign of Medicine, the Shaman, the Priest, the Healer, and the Sorcerer; Guardian of the Way, Keeper of the Keys of the secret Kingdom. Rattlesnake Tooth in the Sky is the Rainbow. It is a brilliant display of the Sun ray’s in seven colors, violet, indigo, blue, green, yellow, orange, and red. Day and Night, Sun and Moon, Physical and Spiritual join in a glorious display of the Heavens. To project this image requires water and Light, the great healer of all life.
[Text in italics was the primary source of inspiration for my journal. These are the sources that started my journey and they are the reference for interpretation each day. By providing the original text, I hope to offer a way to see what inspired my thoughts and by including all the aspects – allow for something more to inspire you. Mayan descriptions are those written by Ian Lungold. Cherokee descriptions came from multiple sources. Links to sources and other resources of study are offered on the Daykeeper Resources Page. ~Debra]
