Tag Archives: Solar Flares

CME Incoming 10/07

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EARTH-DIRECTED CME: Magnetic fields near sunspot AR1582 slowly erupted on Oct 5th sparking a B7-class solar flare and hurling a CME toward Earth. The Solar and Heliosphere Observatory (SOHO) captured this image of the expanding cloud:

Although Earth is in the line of fire, it won’t be a direct hit. Instead, the CME will deliver a glancing blow to our planet’s magnetic field. NOAA forecasters estimate a 20% chance of polar geomagnetic storms when the cloud arrives on Oct. 8th. High-latitude sky watchers should be alert for auroras especially during the hours around local midnight.

fr/spaceweather.com

CME Incoming 9/30

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CME IMPACT: A coronal mass ejection hit Earth’s magnetic field on Sept. 30th at 10:25 UT. The impact was weak, lifting the solar wind speed around Earth barely above 300 km/s. Nevertheless, auroras are possible around the Arctic Circle as Earth’s magnetic field reverberates from the impact. Aurora alerts: text, voice.

The CME was propelled into space on Sept. 28th by an eruption of sunspot AR1577. The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory caught the cloud expanding toward Earth at 2.2 million mph:

Although the initial impact was weak, a geomagnetic storm could develop in the wake of the CME.

from:    spaceweather.com

ERuptionon the Sun

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ENTANGLED ERUPTION: Interrupting days of quiet, sunspot AR1564 erupted on Saturday, Sept. 8th, producing an M1-class solar flare. NASA’s Solar Dynamics Obervatory (SDO) recorded the extreme ultraviolet flash:

The movie shows more than just a single flare. This eruption was “entangled.” A magnetic tendril guided a wave of hot plasma all the way from the blast site to another active region (AR1562) on the western limb ~250,000 km away.

Since SDO was launched in 2010, the observatory has recorded hundreds of entangled eruptions. Sometimes they spread like a chain reaction to involve nearly the entire sun. A good example is the global eruption of August 2010. The moral to this story: One little flare can go a long way.

from:    spaceweather.com

Quiet Sun

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LATLINING: WIth no sunspots actively flaring, the sun’s x-ray output has nearly flatlined. These data from NOAA’s GOES 15 satellite show how quiet things have been on August 23rd through 25th:

NOAA forecasters say there is no more than a 5% chance of strong flares today. However, a new sunspot is emerging that could break the quiet.

from:    spaceweather.com

Sunspot AR1520-1521 Erupts Again

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ALMOST X-FLARE : Sunspot complex AR1520-1521 erupted again on July 19th, this time producing an M7-class solar flare that almost crossed the threshold into X-territory. NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory recorded the extreme ultraviolet flash:

The explosion produced a bright coronal mass ejection. The cloud should miss Earth.

Although the explosion occured on the other side of the sun’s western limb, our planet could feel some effects. The blast site is magnetically connected to Earth by backward-spiralling lines of magnetic force. Protons accelerated by the flare are being guided to us by those lines of magnetism, and a mild radiation storm is underway.

from:  spaceweather.com

Ionization Waves on the Way

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WAVES OF IONIZATION: Sunspot AR1515 is strobing Earth with C- and M-class solar flares. Each pulse of x-rays and extreme UV radiation creates a wave of ionization in our planet’s upper atmosphere. These sudden ionospheric disturbances, also known as “SIDs,” alter the propagation of radio signals around Earth. Yesterday, amateur scientist Roberto Battaiola detected a series of SIDs over Pantigliate, Italy:

“I monitored the radio frequency of 21.75 kHz,” he says.

More SIDs are in the offing as AR1515 continues to crackle with strong solar flares. In fact, a really big SID could occur if, as expected, AR1515 produces an X-class flare before it rotates off the solar disk a few days from now.

fr/spaceweather.com

Active Sunspot

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ACTIVE SUNSPOT: Sunspot AR1513 is crackling with impulsive M-class solar flares. NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory recorded the extreme ultraviolet flash from one of them at 0920 UT on June 29th:

This M2-class flare illuminated Earth’s upper atmosphere with a pulse of X-rays and extreme ultraviolet radiation. Waves of ionization rippled over Europe, altering the propagation of low-frequency radio signals around the continent. Using a receiver tuned to 60 kHz, Rob Stammes detected the sudden ionospheric disturbance over Norway. His antennas also picked up radio waves from the flare itself at 26 MHz and 56 MHz.

More ionization waves and solar radio bursts are in the offing. NOAA forecasters estimate a 40% chance of continued M-flares during the next 24 hours.

fr/spaceweather.com

Solar Flares

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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.

fr/spaceweather.com

More Incoming CME’s

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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 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.

fr/spaceweather.com