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#cme

ramnath@nerdpol.ch
ramnath

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#CME IMPACT SPARKS EUROPEAN #AURORAS: A CME struck Earth's magnetic field on Nov. 25th, sparking 15 hours of geomagnetic storms. At the apex of the G2-category event, auroras were observed across most of Europe, visible to the naked eye despite nearly full moonlight. Graeme Whipps, who sends this picture from Aboyne, Aberdeenshire, #Scotland (+57N):

Note that Whipps' photo includes a vertical band of rare orange auroras. "What an incredible sight!" Whipps says.

Usually, when auroras visit Europe, they stop in places like Scotland, going no farther south. On Nov. 25th, however, the lights descended all the way to Italy

https://spaceweather.com/

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ramnath@nerdpol.ch
ramnath

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INCREASE IN #SOLAR ACTIVITY: Over the past week, sunspot numbers have increased almost 10-fold with dozens of dark cores now present on the solar disk. It is no surprise that solar activity has sharply increased as well. Just today multiple overlapping CMEs have billowed away from the sun:

Analysts will have to spend some time unraveling these clouds to determine their trajectories. However, a NASA model already suggests one may be heading for Earth. The first, bright southerly #CME shown in the movie above could hit our planet's magnetic field during the late hours of Nov. 25th

https://spaceweather.com/

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ramnath@nerdpol.ch
ramnath

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POSSIBLE EARTH-DIRECTED ERUPTION: A solar magnetic filament erupted on Halloween night, carving a "canyon of fire" in the sun's southern hemisphere. NASA's #Solar Dynamics Observatory recorded the debris as it slingshot into space:

A boomerang presentation of the Halloween eruption.

The walls of the canyon are at least 10,000 km high and 10 times as long. Fragments of the magnetic filament may soon emerge from the blast site in the form of a #CME. Fresh data from SOHO coronagraphs will soon reveal if it has an Earth-dorected component.

https://spaceweather.com/

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ramnath@nerdpol.ch
ramnath

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DRAMATIC #M-CLASS EXPLOSION: A magnetic filament just beyond the sun's northeastern limb exploded on Oct. 26th (2324 UT), causing a chain reaction of magnetic eruptions that spilled onto the Earthside of the sun. NASA's SDO recorded the M1.4 category blast:

Coronagraphs onboard the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) have since detected a fast-moving #CME emerging from the blast site. Type II radio emissions from the leading edge of the CME suggest it is moving 1558 km/s (3.5 million mph). There is a hint of an Earth-directed component. It is too soon to know for sure, however; confirmation awaits additional data from SOHO.

https://spaceweather.com/

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ramnath@nerdpol.ch
ramnath

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NEW SOURCE OF FLARES: Suddenly, AR3445 is crackling with activity. The mixed-polarity sunspot has produced multiple #M-class #flares this weekend, including this M4-category explosion on Sept.24th (0328 UT):

A flash of extreme #ultraviolet #radiation from the #flare ionized the top of Earth's atmosphere, causing a shortwave radio blackout over #Australia: map. Mariners and ham radio operators may have noticed loss of signal at frequencies below 25 MHz for as much as 30 minutes after the flare.

This flare might have lasted long enough to lift a #CME out of the sun's atmosphere.
https://spaceweather.com/

ramnath@nerdpol.ch
ramnath

#aurora
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NIGHT AFTER THE STORM: When a #CME hit #Earth on Sept. 18th, sparking a strong geomagnetic storm, it was just the beginning. Our planet's magnetosphere reverberated for more than two days after the impact. That's why this happened:

"The night after the big storm I was flying back to Europe," says photographer Ruslan Merzlyakov. "While over Greenland's ice sheet these amazing auroras appeared--even blue Northern Lights were there!"

The storm has truly subsided now, but auroras will soon return. Two more CMEs are en route for a new round of storming on Sept. 23rd and 24th

https://spaceweather.com/

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ramnath@nerdpol.ch
ramnath

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#CME SPARKS STRONG #GEOMAGNETIC #STORM: Earth's magnetic field is still reverberating from a fast-moving CME strike on Sept. 18th. The CME's arrival (a day earlier than expected) sparked a strong G3-class geomagnetic storm with auroras stretching from France to the West Coast of the USA.

Jeroen Daniels photographed the display from Edmonton, Alberta:

"As soon as the sun set I could see auroras dancing in the twilight sky," says Daniels. "The colours were unlike any that I have seen before--greens mixed with blues mixed with reds, orange, pink. It was amazing!"

At the apex of the storm, red atomic-oxygen auroras spread into the United States as far south as Colorado (+40.4N), Missouri (+40.1N), and Nebraska (+41.9N). It was a true mid-latitude event.

Not all the lights in the sky were auroras. Many observers also spotted STEVE--a glowing ribbon of purple light caused by currents of hot plasma flowing through Earth's magnetosphere. Michele Sadauskas photographed the phenomenon from Glidden, Wisconsin:

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"When I stepped out of the truck, STEVE appeared vividly across the sky," says Sadauskas. "I quickly set up my pano rig and was pretty happy with the capture. This is the first time I've caught STEVE crossing all the way from east to west!"

Other notable sightings of STEVE were made in Montana, Michigan, Nebraska, South Dakota and Wyoming.

https://spaceweather.com/

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ramnath@nerdpol.ch
ramnath

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GEOMAGNETIC STORM: Arriving a day earlier than expected, a #CME hit #Earth's magnetic field on Sept. 18th. The fast-moving CME triggered a G2-class geomagnetic storm on Sept. 18/19 with bright #auroras around the Arctic Circle. Markus Varik witnessed a "massive powerful outburst" over Tromsø, Norway:

"Last night in Tromsø was simply astonishing," says Varik. "There was no way to prepare ourselves for what we saw."

"I happened to be giving a private aurora tour for two guests, Jose and Kimberly, when the storm erupted," says Varik. "Jose had a plan to propose to Kimberly under the auroras if we were lucky enough to see them. You can guess for yourself, did she say yes?"

https://spaceweather.com/

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ramnath@nerdpol.ch
ramnath

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FARSIDE #CME JUST HIT SOLAR ORBITER: Two days ago, a bright CME rocketed away from the farside of the sun. Its plane-of-sky speed in SOHO coronagraph images exceeded 1,500 km/s (3.4 million mph):

If this CME had hit Earth, a strong (possibly severe) geomagnetic storm would have surely resulted. Instead, it flew in the opposite direction and hit Europe's Solar Orbiter (SolO) spacecraft.

The CME reached SolO on July 26th (0200 UT), barely 32 hours after it left the sun. Considering that a typical CME would take two or three days to reach the spacecraft at its current location, a transit of only 32 hours confirms this CME was a fast-mover.

"This was definitely a big event," says George Ho of the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab, co-principal investigator for the Energetic Particle Detector suite onboard Solar Orbiter. Ho checked the data right after the initial explosion on July 24th and saw a 10,000-fold increase of 50 MeV ions reaching the spacecraft. "This indicates a strong incoming interplanetary shock."

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ramnath@nerdpol.ch
ramnath

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#DARK #ERUPTION ON THE #SUN: One of the most dramatic eruptions of Solar Cycle 25 occured yesterday, July 14th, when a spray of dark #plasma flew away from the sun's southern hemosphere. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory recorded the event:

The explosion started in the magnetic canopy of AR3370, a small and previously unremarkable sunspot. X-ray sensors on Earth-orbiting satellites registered a C8.8-class solar flare at 1844 UT just before the dark ejecta appeared. Why dark? The plasma was #relatively #cool and #dense, and silhouetted the glow of the underlying sun.

This explosion probably hurled a #CME toward #Earth. Confirmation awaits fresh data from SOHO coronagraphs.

THIS SUNSPOT IS BLOWING BUBBLES: Big sunspot AR3363 has an inky-black core wide enough to swallow Earth. What is going on in there? On July 11th, a Dutch astronomer nicknamed "Neo" decided to take a closer look, and this is what he saw:

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"I captured a phenomenon called 'umbral flashes,'" says New. "Rapid bubbling from the depths of the Umbra is shown in this timelapse movie, which I created from 11 minutes of raw video."

The umbra of a sunspot is its dark central core. It is where magnetic fields are so intense, incandescent heat from the underlying sun is bottled up and prevented from reaching the surface. That is why sunspot umbras look dark.

Yet they are not completely dark. Professional astronomers have long known that flashes of light and popping bubbles can be seen in sunspot cores. These events are not fully understood. One theory holds that gas from the sun's atmosphere falls into the umbra. When it reaches the "floor" of the sunspot, the gas rebounds, forming luminous shockwaves that observers describe as "umbral flashes."

https://spaceweather.com/

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ramnath@nerdpol.ch
ramnath

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#CME: A coronal mass ejection (CME) might be #heading for #Earth. It was launched into space this morning (July 10th @ 0355 UT) by an M2-class eruption in the magnetic canopy of sunspot AR3358 . According to a NASA model, the partial halo CME will sideswipe our planet on July 13th. The impact could spark G1 to G2-class geomagnetic storms.

https://spaceweather.com/

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ramnath@nerdpol.ch
ramnath

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#X-CLASS #SOLAR #FLARE AND #CME: New #sunspot AR3341 erupted on June 20th, producing an X1.1-class solar flare (1709 UT). NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory captured the extreme ultraviolet flash:

#Radiation from the flare ionized the top of #Earth's #atmosphere. This caused a deep shortwave radio blackout over North America: map. Aviators and ham radio operators may have noticed loss of signal at frequencies below 30 MHz for as much as 20 minutes after the flare.

SOHO coronagraphs have since detected a CME. It is the fan-shaped cloud expanding away from the sun's southeastern limb (8 o'clock position):
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The CME's expansion velocity exceeds 1000 km/s (2.2 million mph), according to Type II radio bursts detected by the US Air Force. It's a fast mover that should deliver a potent blow to whatever it hits.

Earth is probably not in the strike zone, although a glancing blow may be possible on June 22nd or 23rd.
https://spaceweather.com/

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ramnath@nerdpol.ch
ramnath

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Before the launch of the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) in 1995, astronomers had never seen anything like this. Behold, a #solar #storm passing directly in front of the #Pleiades:

SOHO recorded this rare conjunction on May 21st. An erupting filament of magnetism near the sun's north pole propelled the #CME into space just as the #SevenSisters were passing by. #Electra, #Taygete, #Maia, #Celaeno, #Alcyone, #Sterope, and #Merope spent nearly three hours shining through the translucent solar storm.

When SOHO left Earth almost 30 years ago, it carried the first realtime #coronagraph into #space. Coronagraphs are devices that create an #artificial #eclipse, blocking the glare of the #sun to reveal nearby #stars, #planets, and #comets. No telescope on Earth could see something as faint as the Pleiades only a few degrees from the sun, but SOHO does it all the time.
https://spaceweather.com/

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ramnath@nerdpol.ch
ramnath

SEVERE #GEOMAGNETIC STORM: Arriving earlier than expected, a #CME hit #Earth's magnetic field on April 23rd at 1737 UT, sparking a severe G4-class geomagnetic storm. Auroras spread across Europe with sightings as far south as #France. Bright red auroras were also reported in #China.

The storm is still going on and it is producing visible auroras across North America. Mid-latitude sightings include North Carolina, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, California and Oklahoma.

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"My pulse is still racing!" says Heiko Ulbricht, who watched the aurora show from Saxony, #Germany. "There were bright green spots dancing across the sky all the way up to the zenith." This is what he saw:

"This was a display not to be forgotten," he says. Similar green blobs were photographed in #Poland and France. These are unusual structures, which we will discuss further after the storm is over.

The auroras in Europe were so bright, they could be seen even from brightly-lit urban areas. Thomas Hunger sends this report from Berlin, Germany: "I run Northern Lights tours in Tromsø, Norway, but would have never dreamt of seeing auroras from my home town of Berlin. I stepped on the balcony and enjoyed a sight that in a city of 4 million inhabitants might just have been a once-in-a-lifetime experience."
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https://spaceweather.com/

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