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GEOMAGNETIC STORM: A solar wind stream hit Earth’s magnetic field during the early hours of March 1st, sparking a day-long magnetic storm that is subsiding but perhaps not over yet. In recent hours, spotters have reported auroras over Northern Ireland, Scotland, Latvia, Norway, and Sweden. High-latitude sky watchers in North America should be alert for green lights as night falls across their continent. Stay tuned! [Aurora alerts: phone, text]

NASA space physicist James Spann sends this picture from Poker Flats, Alaska, where he is attending a scientific conference to study auroras:

Photo details: Nikon D700 with 14-24mm lens at f/3.5, exposure of 25 seconds at 14 mm, ISO 1000

“This is the first time I have seen the aurora borealis in person,” says Spann who lives in Alabama. “It was fantastic–the greatest light show on Earth. It was cold (<-20 F) outside but worth every minute of exposure and lost sleep. I am afraid now that I have been ruined for life since my first personal viewing of the aurora was so amazing." As a researcher he also appreciated the greater meaning of the display: "This is the most obvious and accessible evidence of the connectivity that Earth has with our star the sun. Witnessing the connectivity first-hand was particularly special to me."

EASTERN BLAST: The quiet didn’t last long. Earth-orbiting satellites detected an M3-class solar flare at 0735 UT on Feb. 24th. The source was an active region located just behind the sun’s eastern limb. The eruption produced strong radio emissions, a coronal mass ejection (not Earth directed), and this spectacular picture taken by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory:
check out spaceweathr.com for pictures and movies of the event

ANOTHER X-FLARE–ALMOST: Fast-growing sunspot complex 1161-1162 erupted on Feb. 18th, producing an M6.6-class solar flare. The almost-X category blast was one of the strongest flares in years and continued the week-long trend of high solar activity. NOAA forecasters estimate a 75% chance of more M-flares during the next 24 hours.

WAVES OF IONIZATION: Waves of ionization are rippling through Earth’s upper atmosphere in response to the recent onslaught of solar flares. This affects the propagation of radio signals–suppressing some frequencies and boosting others. By monitoring distant transmitters at a frequency of 23.4 kHz, Rudolf Slosiar of Bojnice, Slovakia detected nearly a dozen sudden ionospheric disturbances (SIDs) on Feb. 18th:

…More waves of ionization are iin the offing as sunspot complex 1161-1162 continues to crackle with M-class solar flares.

go to spaceweather.com to read more

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MAJOR FLARE:  Earth-orbiting satellites have detected the strongest solar flare in more than four years.  At 0156 UT on Feb. 15th, giant sunspot 1158 unleashed an X2-class eruption.  X-flares are the strongest type of x-ray flare, and this is the first such eruption of new Solar Cycle 24.  The explosion that produced the flare also sent a solar tsunami rippling through the sun’s atmosphere and, more importantly, hurled a coronal mass ejection toward Earth. This raises the possibility of geomagnetic storms in the days ahead. Visit http://spaceweather.com for images and updates.

EARTH-DIRECTED SOLAR FLARE: On Feb. 13th at 1738 UT, sunspot 1158 unleashed the strongest solar flare of the year so far, an M6.6-category blast. NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory recorded an intense flash of extreme ultraviolet radiation, circled below:

The eruption produced a loud blast of radio waves heard in shortwave receivers around the dayside of our planet. In New Mexico, amateur radio astronomer Thomas Ashcraft recorded these sounds at 19 to 21 MHz. “This was some of the strongest radio bursting of the new solar cycle,” he says. “What a great solar day.”

to read more about this, go to:

http://spaceweather.com/

DODGING PLASMA BULLETS: The remains of old sunspot complex 1147-1149 are rotating over the eastern limb today. Although the region is in an advanced state of decay, it’s not dead yet. During the late hours of Feb. 11th, a plasma bullet came rocketing out of the region’s unstable core. Watch the movie–but don’t blink, because it’s fast (21 MB Quicktime):

Movie formats: 21 MB Quicktime, 1.3 MB mpeg, 0.5 MB iPad. Credit: SDO

The eruption was not geoeffective. Earth’s magnetic field will remain undisturbed as the ‘bullet’ sails wide-left of our planet over the weekend.

This region has been spitting plasma and crackling with flares since it first emerged more than a month ago on Jan. 10th. Remarkably, however, every eruption so far has missed Earth. Why? It’s just luck: Most of the blasts occurred while AR1147-1149 was on the far side of the sun. Statistically speaking, a plasma bullet in our direction may be overdue

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On Super SUNday Feb. 6, 2011, NASA will release humankinds first ever view of the entire Sun and NASA’s Robonaut 2 will make a first ever guest appearance on the NFL’s Super Bowl Pre game show
for Super Bowl XLV. Left: The Sun from STEREO taken by the SECCHI Extreme Ultraviolet Imager (EUVI) at the 304 Angstrom bandpass which is sensitive to the He II singly ionized state of helium, at a characteristic temperature of about 80 thousand degrees Kelvin. Credit: NASA.
Right: Robonaut 2 practicing for the NFL Super Bowl XLV at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in front of the world famous Countdown Clock. Credit & Mosaic: Ken Kremer

What do NASA, Robots, the Sun and the NFL have in common ?

to read more of this article, go to

http://www.universetoday.com/83133/nasa-robot-and-first-whole-sun-picture-coming-on-super-bowl-sunday/

NOAA forecasters estimate a 60% chance of polar geomagnetic storms on Feb. 3rd. They say a high-speed solar wind stream and a CME could hit Earth’s magnetic field on Wednesday–a double whammy almost certain to spark some degree of geomagnetic activity. High-latitude sky watchers should be alert for auroras.

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DOUBLE ERUPTION: Jan. 28th began with not one but two major eruptions on the sun. Separated by more than a million kilometers, the two blasts occurred almost simultaneously on opposite corners of the solar disk. Click on the image to view a movie recorded by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory:

On the lower left, a magnetic filament became unstable and erupted, hurling a portion of itself into space. On the upper right, departing sunspot 1149 produced an M1-class solar flare and a bright coronal mass ejection (SOHO movie). Is this all a big coincidence? Maybe not. New research shows that eruptions on the sun can “go global” with widely separated blasts unfolding in concert as they trigger and feed off of one another.

These blasts are going to miss in concert, too. Plasma clouds ejected by the two eruptions will sail wide of our planet, one on the left and one on the right. No Earth-effects are expected