Celestial Space Weather/Sun Spot

Publius

TB Fanatic
We had a Sunspot show up and then fade away then come back so here's were we're at.

It's September 26, 2020 and we're now 270 days into the year.
As of now we have 190 days without Sunspots.
We are now up to 80 days with Sunspots.
The percentage of the year without Sunspots is now at 71% and subject to change to a lower percentage depending on how long this Sunspot lasts.

As of now we have 96 days left to the end of the year 2020.
 

Housecarl

On TB every waking moment
Posted for fair use.....

A new method for predicting large solar flares
Posted by Graham Jones in Human World | Space | October 2, 2020

Solar storms pose risks for society, but more accurate space weather forecasts appear to be coming soon. A team of researchers in Japan has developed a physics-based method for predicting large solar flares, including powerful and potentially dangerous X-flares.

This past summer, solar physicist Kanya Kusano and his colleagues published a new paper in the prestigious journal Science, outlining a new method for predicting potentially dangerous solar flares. The method isn’t perfect; tests using solar observations acquired in 2008 to 2019 resulted in some false negatives and false positives. Yet, impressively, the method successfully predicted 7 out of 9 of the biggest X-class flares – the most powerful kind of solar flares – from the last solar cycle. The method also provided the exact location where each flare would begin and limits on how powerful it would be. Graham Jones – who is based in Japan – had an opportunity to interview Kanya Kusano about this work. His interview is below.



Solar flares are brief eruptions of intense high-energy radiation from the sun’s surface. They’re associated with sunspots, coronal mass ejections and other signs of high activity on the sun, during its 11-year cycle. Activity on the sun creates what’s known as space weather, which can have an impact here on Earth. For example, a big solar flare can result in charged particles hurled toward Earth that cause disturbances in electrical power grids on Earth and satellites in orbit.


Understanding when and why these powerful solar flares happen has been one of most difficult challenges in astrophysics. There has been a fair amount of theoretical mathematical modeling developed, of different kinds, as well as attempts to understand the exact physics behind what causes solar flares and coronal mass ejections. All have the ultimate goal of predicting these storms on the sun.


What sets Kusano’s team’s findings apart is that it’s physical, rather than being based on models. In other words, these scientists use NASA SDO data to make a 3D picture – a magnetic map – of the sun. Their approach opens a new direction for solar flare prediction research. Kusano spoke about about their work below.


A smiling and dapper Japanese man, with glasses, wearing a suit.
Kanya Kusano is director of the Institute for Space-Earth Environmental Research at Nagoya University. He and his team have developed a physics-based model to predict imminent large solar flares. Image via Nagoya University.

Jones: What is the Institute for Space-Earth Environmental Research, and what’s your role?


Kusano: The human environment is so extended, it even spreads into space. Our institute was established in 2015 to combine space science and Earth science. My background is in astrophysics, but I used to work for the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, where I developed simulations of clouds and rainfall. I’m a theoretician, but I always try to apply theory to some kind of practical benefit. Space weather forecasting is a field where basic science and practical application should be combined.


Jones: What is a solar flare, and why do scientists study them?


Kusano: A solar flare a kind of explosion on the sun. The driving force is the energy stored in the sun’s magnetic field. This magnetic energy builds up slowly over a very long time, which then is suddenly released as radiation and high-energy particles.


It’s just like an avalanche on a mountain: the snow accumulates over many days until the gravitational energy is released in an avalanche.



The first reason we wanta to study these flares on the sun is that phenomena that occur suddenly are very interesting science subjects. What determines the onset of an explosion? A typhoon, which grows quickly from a low pressure system, is another example of an explosion in an atmospheric system.


The second reason is to protect our society. The distribution of solar flares is similar to earthquakes: we have many small solar flares, and a big one is very rare. However, when a big flare occurs, the impact on our economy and society may be enormous. Satellites may be damaged, and the electrical power grid may be damaged over a very wide area.


The only way to mitigate such kind of impact is with prediction.


Jones: Why has it taken so long to come up with a way to predict solar flares?


Kusano: Solar flares were discovered in 1859 by Richard Carrington, a British astronomer. People studied them for more than 100 years.


But in the last two or three decades, our knowledge has improved enormously because of very high resolution observations by satellite. We now understand that a solar flare is an explosion of magnetic energy.


However, what determines when the solar flare occurs? That is still a mysterious problem.


Jones: How are you solving this problem?


Kusano: NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) satellite provides magnetic data on the solar surface. It is impossible to directly observe the magnetic field in three dimensions, so we have developed software which can calculate the three-dimensional field from the surface data. Then we combine this with theory. Instability of the magnetic field is triggered by magnetic reconnection, where the field lines swap around. If we can find some position where a small amount of magnetic reconnection could trigger instability, then we can predict that a big flare should start from there. It is similar to that avalanche. If you have thick snow on a mountain, theory can tell us how small a crack could trigger an avalanche at any position.


View the sun now, via SDO


Jones: Your latest paper is a proof of concept. How long will it be before you can start making forecasts of solar flares on a regular basis?


Kusano: Currently our scheme requires a big, heavy calculation. We use a supercomputer here in Japan. However, in order to produce one prediction, more than three hours of computation is required. It also takes more than several hours to get the SDO satellite data. In order to make our method work for creating practical, operational forecasts of solar flares we have to accelerate the data acquisition and computation.


I believe that within a couple of years we can make some kind of operational forecast using our scheme.


Jones: Many people worry about another large solar flare happening in a way that would affect our technologies on Earth – another event like the Carrington Event, the largest space super-storm in recorded history – which took place in 1859 before the advent of the electrical grids and Earth-orbiting satellites that are so susceptible to these events. Do you worry about a big solar flare happening?


Kusano: I do. I worry about an extreme event. We want to protect our society from a space-weather disaster. Our scheme can predict a solar flare several hours before the onset of the flare, but we cannot predict a solar flare in the next week.


There are many such kinds of risks we should be concerned about in our society. And maybe science is the only way to think about them.


Jones: Thank you, Dr. Kusano.


Two hemispheres, one on left with yellow patches and arc-shaped splashes, one on right very plain.
The sun’s activity runs on a roughly 11-year cycle, moving regularly from its most quiet period – solar minimum – to its most active – solar maximum – and back to quiet. This split image shows the difference between an active sun during solar maximum (on the left, captured in April 2014) and a quiet sun during solar minimum (on the right, captured in December 2019). December 2019 marks the beginning of Solar Cycle 25, and the sun’s activity will once again ramp up until solar maximum, predicted for 2025. Image via NASA/ Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO).

Bottom line: A team of researchers in Japan has developed a physics-based method for predicting large solar flares, including powerful and potentially dangerous X-flares. These flares on the sun – and their resulting coronal mass ejections – pose risks for earthly technologies. Accurate prediction of the flares has been a challenge, but this new method seems to offer a leap forward in creating more accurate forecasts of space weather.
 

Publius

TB Fanatic
We have offishly reached 200 days without Sunspots this year.
We are holding at 71% of the year without Sunspots.
 

packyderms_wife

Neither here nor there.
October 14, 2020 @ 00:30 UTC


Possible Active Region (SDO/AIA)
Solar activity continues at very low levels. AR 2775 decayed to a spotless plage and is non threatening.
A new region that began forming within the past few days while on the farside of the Sun is now turning into view off the east limb. We will find out during the next day or so if the region is continuing in a growth phase and if any spots will become visible. Attached image by the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) using the 171 angstroms channel.
UPDATE: The new region was assigned AR 2776 on Wednesday. A few spots are currently visible. So far only minor B-Flares have been detected.
Stay tuned to SolarHam.com for the most up to date information.


 

Publius

TB Fanatic
Ok; I have been sitting and watching and not saying anything but we have had good many Sunspots happening and it's one after another and no more than two Sunspots at a time and some of these Sunspots have some size to them.
So below I'm giving the normal score of where we are at as of this time with the solar activity.

It's 2020, November 3. We are 308 days into the year.
We have up to now 104 days with Sunspots and as of right now we have two active Sunspots on the face of the Sun.
We're are now at 204 days with no Sunspots.
Also the percentage of the year with no Sunspots is now at 66%.
We only have 58 more days to the end of the year 2020.
 

TxGal

Day by day
Publius, electroverse.net has an article up about a big sunspot. I've posted it in the GSM thread, post #1969.
 

packyderms_wife

Neither here nor there.
Publius, electroverse.net has an article up about a big sunspot. I've posted it in the GSM thread, post #1969.



November 5, 2020 @ 01:40 UTC


AR 2781 (Nov 5) (SDO/HMI)
Large active region 2781 is expanding in size and despite being a "monster" sunspot, it only has a beta magnetic configuration for the time being. This could change over the next few days as the region continues to evolve. The region continues to turn into an Earth facing position and future eruptions could potentially be directed towards Earth. The largest flare detected up until this update was a fairly minor C7.3 at 00:22 UTC (Nov 5). Solar Cycle 25 is finally starting to step it up a notch!
Stay tuned to SolarHam.com for the latest space weather news and data.
 

Publius

TB Fanatic


November 5, 2020 @ 01:40 UTC


AR 2781 (Nov 5) (SDO/HMI)
Large active region 2781 is expanding in size and despite being a "monster" sunspot, it only has a beta magnetic configuration for the time being. This could change over the next few days as the region continues to evolve. The region continues to turn into an Earth facing position and future eruptions could potentially be directed towards Earth. The largest flare detected up until this update was a fairly minor C7.3 at 00:22 UTC (Nov 5). Solar Cycle 25 is finally starting to step it up a notch!
Stay tuned to SolarHam.com for the latest space weather news and data.



Yeah I know and it's about the size of Neptune which is a lot bigger than Earth.
 

Publius

TB Fanatic
We are now down to one Sunspot and may soon be back to a blank Sun in a day or two.
The sun picked up some activity in the last few weeks and looking like the grand minima was over but we were having only one or two Sunspots at a time and a few of them had some size to them, a normal active Sun we can have anywhere from one Sunspot to as many as 30 Sunspots per-day.
 

TxGal

Day by day
Publius, LucyT sent me the below link - good sunspot out there, it appears:

SpaceWeather.com -- News and information about meteor showers, solar flares, auroras, and near-Earth asteroids

MAGNIFICENT SUNSPOT: New sunspot AR2786 is so big it could swallow Earth with barely a ripple. The dimensions of the spot make it an easy target for safely-filtered backyard telescopes. Look here, here, here and here. The sunspot is turning toward Earth and could soon become a source of geoeffective flares. Solar flare alerts: SMS Text

SOLAR FLARE HURLS PLASMA BOMB: Sunspot AR2785 erupted during the late hours of Nov. 23rd (2335 UT), producing a C4-class solar flare. The explosion hurled a plume of plasma more than 250,000 km across the sun. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory recorded the splashdown:


A pulse of ultraviolet radiation from the flare hit Earth, briefly ionizing the top of our atmosphere. This, in turn, caused a shortwave radio blackout over the South Pacific, including eastern Australia and all of New Zealand: blackout map. Frequencies affected were mainly below 10 MHz.

More solar flares are in the offing. Three of the biggest sunspots of young Solar Cycle 25 (AR2783, AR2785, AR2786) are either facing Earth or turning in our direction. They all pose a threat for C-class flares (like the one shown above) with a slight chance of even stronger M-flares. Solar flare alerts: SMS Text
 

packyderms_wife

Neither here nor there.
Can someone help me find info on the HUGE Sunspot that's aimed directly at the earth, it's a M Class??? The only news source I can find is Daily Mail and I'm not sure how legit they are and Solarham has yet to update their website. TIA.
 

cyberiot

Rimtas žmogus
Can someone help me find info on the HUGE Sunspot that's aimed directly at the earth, it's a M Class??? The only news source I can find is Daily Mail and I'm not sure how legit they are and Solarham has yet to update their website. TIA.

Looks like it just belched. I just started a thread on the main with info from Spaceweather.

ETA: Says it's C class, yet it caused some M-class-level disruptions. I leave it to my betters to explain.
 

packyderms_wife

Neither here nor there.

An eruption on the sun didn't bring the aurora to Pennsylvania or Oregon this week, but more solar outbursts are expected soon
Morgan McFall-Johnsen
Dec 10, 2020, 5:02 PM

coronal mass ejection sun

The sun blows out a coronal mass ejection, February 24, 2015. NASA/GSFC
  • An eruption on the sun's surface sent plasma and charged particles speeding towards Earth this week.
  • Forecasts suggested that this coronal mass ejection would reach our planet Wednesday as a solar storm that could interfere with radio, GPS, and power grids.
  • There was a possibility the aurora borealis could be visible from Pennsylvania to Iowa to Oregon, but in the end, the northern lights didn't appear that far south.
  • The sun is entering a period of increasing violent activity, so more opportunities for the northern US to see the aurora are likely.
An eruption on the sun this week prompted warnings from the National Weather Service.

The outburst sent plasma and magnetically charged particles, called a coronal mass ejection (CME), speeding towards Earth. If those particles had hit our atmosphere just right, the NWS said, they could have inundated the planet in a geomagnetic storm that would interfere with power grids, GPS, and radio communications, and even affect satellites' orbits around Earth.

These impacts could have extended into the northern US and brought the aurora borealis — a reaction between solar particles and Earth's atmosphere — creeping down into regions from Pennsylvania to Iowa to Oregon.

But when the CME arrived on Wednesday, there were no northern lights in these lower states.

Aurora Borealis

The Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights) is seen over the sky near Rovaniemi in Lapland, Finland, October 7, 2018. Alexander Kuznetsov/Reuters

The space-weather branch of the National Weather Service had initially issued a watch for a "strong" geomagnetic storm on Thursday, but it downgraded the watch to "minor" after the CME's arrival.

This was because the CME's magnetic field was pointing north, according to Mike Hapgood, a space-weather consultant at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in the UK. It would need to face south in order to wash far enough through the North Pole opening in Earth's magnetic field to reach the US.

"We're unlikely to see much activity, and the aurora will stay further north over Canada," Hapgood told Business Insider. The northern reaches of Maine and Michigan may still catch a glimpse of the green lights, though.

But Illinoisans and Iowans shouldn't despair. There may be better opportunities for them to see the aurora in the near future.

The Aurora Australis, or southern lights, as seen from the International Space Station, on June 25, 2017. NASA

That's because this CME was just a preview of an upcoming period of intense solar activity that could bring more geomagnetic storms and far-reaching aurorae. The sun is entering a new 11-year solar cycle, which means its eruptions and flares will grow more frequent and violent, ramping up to a peak in 2025.

"This is more a wake-up call that stronger storms could occur in the next few years – and we ought to make sure we are ready for them," Hapgood said.

Strong solar storms are fairly common — the NWS estimates that each solar cycle produces about 200 of them — but scientists can't always predict them like this. That often means that power grids and key radio connections are left vulnerable.
 

Publius

TB Fanatic
Update: We've had a good number of Sunspots for the last few weeks and at times there were many Sunspots in fact we had as many as six sunspots all at once, one of these Sunspots was really huge in size and the biggest they have seen in a number of years.
As of right now We are still getting Sunspots and at this time today we only have one visible Sunspot, so a little more update to let everyone know what the numbers are and as far as I can tell with the grand solar minima we are not out of the woods yet.

It's December 21, 2020 we are now 355 days into the year.
As of now we had 208 days with no Sunspots.
up to now we have 147 days with Sunspots and still gaining on this.
Because of these resent Sunspots the percentage of days without Sunspots is now down to 58% of the year.
We have only 10 days to the end of the year 2020.
 
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Publius

TB Fanatic
Ok; believe it or not we are now six days into the new year 2021 and now have three days of blank Sun.

So this has us with three days of the new year with Sunspots and three days with no Sunspots.
So that also leaves us with 50% new year with no Sunspots.
 

Publius

TB Fanatic
We are now 10 days into the year 2021 and we have just gone seven days in a row without Sunspots.
Not sure if this is the end of the active Sun we were seeing as the Sun is in a new solar cycle.

We now have 7 days with no Sunspots I.E. Blank Sun.
So up to now we have only had three days this year with Sunspots.
We are at this time at 70% of the year without Sunspots.
 

Publius

TB Fanatic
We have a new Sunspot for the last two days now and saying there may be another one may rotate into view.

So far we had 12 days this year without Sunspots.
We had only 5 days with Sunspots.
Are are as of now at 71% of the year with no Sunspots.
 

Publius

TB Fanatic
Our Sun having gone into a new solar cycle is showing some Sunspot activity but most of these Sunspots are small and only one or two at a time. Right now we are two days in a row with no Sunspots.

It's January 30, 2021, yep only 30 days into the year.
We have so far this year 14 days with no Sunspots
We have up to now 16 days with Sunspots.
We are currently at 47% of the year without Sunspots
 

Publius

TB Fanatic
A little up date and our Sun under going a new solar cycle as expected it started show some activity and producing Sunspots, but most of the Sunspots are small and showing up only one or two at a time and there was a very short time it was doing as many as six Sunspots at one time and has not done that again.
So far as predicted this solar cycle is weak and weaker than expected, we had a few days with out Sunspots and the following up date.

Its April 11, 2021 and we are now 101 days into the year.
As of now we have 40 days with no Sunspots.
We had 61 days with Sunspots.
The percentage of the year without Sunspots is at 40%
Right now we have a blank Sun and four days into a string of spotless days.
 
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packyderms_wife

Neither here nor there.
I put a Market to Market thread for April 9 on the main, go read it, it's about the drought conditions in the US, South and Central Americas, and mention the Sun.

 

Slydersan

Veteran Member
I put a Market to Market thread for April 9 on the main, go read it, it's about the drought conditions in the US, South and Central Americas, and mention the Sun.


Packy did you mean to put this on the Drought thread?

Don't worry I have lots and lots of tabs open all the time and luckily have caught myself many times about to post on the wrong thread. LOL
 

Publius

TB Fanatic
Time for an update and for the first time in months we have a blank Sun as in spotless. The Sun has been making Sunspots and up to as many as 6 at a time, but most of the are small and up to now few had any size to them. This solar cycle is showing it self to be quite weak and lately some prediction being circulated around the internet that we may see some global cooling over the next 20 years and no telling if it will happen or not only time will tell.

So today is July 29, 2921 we are at 210 days into the year.
We had so far this year 47 days with no Sunspots.
We are at 163 days with Sunspots.
The percentage of the year with no Sunspots is now at 22%.
 

packyderms_wife

Neither here nor there.
August 28, 2021 @ 08:50 UTC
Solar activity reached moderate levels today with an M4.7 solar flare observed around AR2860 at 06:11 UTC. The complexity of this region will make another M-Flare possible during the next 12-24 hours.

The region is now almost directly facing Earth and any coronal mass ejections produced could be Earth directed. Image by SDO/AIA.



CME Update: A faint, slow moving coronal mass ejection (CME) was generated by the M4.7 solar flare around AR2860 earlier today. Based on the latest video, it appears to be headed mostly south of Sun-Earth plane, with a chance for a weak glancing blow by August 31st and into September 1st. Imagery below by LASCO C2.



 

Publius

TB Fanatic
A little up date as we have a blank Sun today and not the first from the last time I updated this thread.
We are seeing Sunspots and some of them in the last week had some serious size to them but most if this stretch of Sunspots were almost invisible or micro sized.

Ok; It's September 16, 2021 We are now 259 days into the year.

Up to now We have only 57 days without Sunspots.
So far We have 202 days with Sunspot activity.
We at at 22% of the year without Sunspots
 

packyderms_wife

Neither here nor there.
Solar Update
December 16, 2021 @ 14:35 UTC
Below is an updated look at the visible solar disk on Thursday. Solar activity during the past 24 hours was at low levels. There are now 7 active regions in view if you include a new region tentatively numbered 2911 in the northeast quadrant. This region did produce a minor C2.0 flare within the past hour. An isolated moderate M-Flare will remain a possibility during the next 24 hours with AR 2907 or 2908 being the most likely threat. The sunspot count could further increase later this weekend when the remains of old regions 2898 and 2900 turn back into view from behind the southeast limb.

dec16_2021_disk2.jpeg
 

packyderms_wife

Neither here nor there.
This is the most recent update from 20 minutes ago.


Solar activity is now at moderate levels. A low level M-Flare is currently in progress around newly assigned AR 2911 towards the northeast limb.

268293979_4513428658755393_6148481911653834227_n.jpeg
 

Publius

TB Fanatic
Solar Update
December 16, 2021 @ 14:35 UTC
Below is an updated look at the visible solar disk on Thursday. Solar activity during the past 24 hours was at low levels. There are now 7 active regions in view if you include a new region tentatively numbered 2911 in the northeast quadrant. This region did produce a minor C2.0 flare within the past hour. An isolated moderate M-Flare will remain a possibility during the next 24 hours with AR 2907 or 2908 being the most likely threat. The sunspot count could further increase later this weekend when the remains of old regions 2898 and 2900 turn back into view from behind the southeast limb.

View attachment 308117



I'm keeping track and will update the thread soon as we had a few spotless days.
 

Publius

TB Fanatic
Ok; it's time for an update on what been happening and we've had a few days with no Sunspots and we also had many days with Sunspots and some of them Sunspots had some size to them.

It's December 22, 2021 and we are 355 days into the year 2021 with only 10 day left to the end of the year.
We have only had 64 blank/spotless days this year.
We've had 291 days this year with Sunspots.
Right now we are at 18% of the year without Sunspots.
As noted above we have only 10 more day to the end of the year 2021.
 
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Publius

TB Fanatic
Ok; it is the last day of the year 2021, not much has changed from the last posting except that it's a few days later.
Our Sun has under gone a magnetic poll flip/reverse and this is part of the Sun's 11 year cycle and with that some Sunspot activity and that was expected but not as weak as it has been. The Sun is expected to go back to being mostly blank.

So it's December 31, 2021 we are now at day 365.
We had 64 days this year with no Sunspots.
We has 301 days with Sunspots.
This year ended with only 18% of the year with the Sun being blank.
 

packyderms_wife

Neither here nor there.

Filament Eruption and CME
January 14, 2022 @ 18:00 UTC
Much happening on the Sun! A filament in the vicinity of AR 2925 erupted today beginning around 13:00 UTC (Jan 14). This event launched a coronal mass ejection (CME) into space and possibly towards our planet. Earth facing coronagraph imagery is not yet updated, however it is clearly captured by STEREO Ahead. Much of the plasma cloud will likely be directed to the south and west, however an Earth directed component will be possible. This will only be confirmed once LASCO imagery is updated. More to follow.

Rt 15 seconds

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxoGmykqqPA&t=1s
 

packyderms_wife

Neither here nor there.
January 14, 2022 @ 17:00 UTC
The Bz component of the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) carried past Earth via the solar wind is currently tipped south. This could help disturb the geomagnetic field in the hours ahead.

A reminder that a geomagnetic storm watch will be in effect this weekend (Jan 15 and 16) when a coronal hole stream is predicted to reach Earth. Visible aurora will be possible at higher latitudes.


January 14, 2022 @ 01:20 UTCA spattering of sunspots are visible across the disk as we head into Friday. Most are magnetically stable and non threatening.

I will mention that it is nice to see both northern hemisphere and southern hemisphere sunspots continually forming at the same time. The previous Cycle 24 was quite out of sync with northern hemisphere spots peaking well before the south. If this current trend continues, it could lead towards what many are hoping, a stronger than expected Cycle 25. So far the numbers are promising.

Back to present day activity. AR 2921, the source of a couple of large farsided events is now about to turn back into view from behind the northeast limb. It remains to be seen if the region has any gas left in the tank as it turns back into view.

Stay tuned to SolarHam.com for the most up to date space weather news and information.




 

packyderms_wife

Neither here nor there.
SOMETHING FLARE-Y THIS WAY COMES: Earth-orbiting satellites detected an M2-class solar flare on Jan. 14th (0203 UT). The explosion was even bigger than it seemed. The actual blast may have been a near-X class event, partially eclipsed by the edge of the sun:

m2flare_strip.jpg

This is the latest in a series of farside explosions which began earlier this week. The blast site is just behind the sun's northeastern limb, probably an unstable sunspot group. It has been hurling debris over the edge of the sun all week long.

Although the flare was a farside event, it still touched Earth. A pulse of X-rays ionized the top of Earth's atmosphere and caused a shortwave radio blackout over Australia:


Pilots, mariners and ham radio operators may have noticed unusual propagation effects at frequencies below 25 MHz. The source of this activity will turn to face Earth this weekend. Stay tuned. Solar flare alerts: SMS Text.

 

packyderms_wife

Neither here nor there.
SolarHam

With the presence of big AR 2936, the solar flux index is up to 113 on Friday. The region continues to produce occasional minor C-Flares and is now in a good Earth facing position. The magnetic image shows a fairly distinct line separation between the negative and positive polarity sections of the spot cluster. As the region continues to evolve, mixing of polarities close to this line could trigger a noteworthy solar flare. For now we will wait and see. Imagery courtesy of SDO/HMI.

SolarHam.com272680204_4680530178711906_4539833786044379488_n.jpeg
 

Publius

TB Fanatic
A little update and our Sun and new solar cycle which is still weak has been active and producing Sunspots of size and also many of micro size, now just a few days ago we had a spotless day so now for the record we have one spotless this year. The Sunspot activity seems to be slowing down and if this is a trend where we may see more days without Sunspots remains to be seen.
 
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