Sun news UPDATE: Double Bam! The sun releases a 2nd X flare

? ? ? ? X flares! AR3590 is busy today. First, it released an X1.9 at 22:52 UTC on February 21. Then came an X1.7 at 6:17 UTC on February 22. So far it appears no CMEs. We are waiting to see if the region has more in store.

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— Dr. C. Alex Young (@TheSunToday) February 22, 2024

Sun news another UPDATE for February 21, 2020: Double BAM! The sun releases 2nd X flare

Another X flare! Region AR3590, which released an X1.9 flare at the end of February 21, has let out another one. This time it’s an X1.7 at 6:17 UTC on February 22. As with the previous X flare, the event does not appear to have a CME associated with it. What’s next? Stay tuned.

Sun news UPDATE for February 21, 2020: BAM! The sun blasts an X flare

X1.9 flare! The giant active region on the northeast, AR3590, exploded an X1.9 flare at 23:07 UTC on February 21. We saw growth on this recent sunspot region, transforming from an alpha to beta-gamma magnetic complexity. At the moment of the blast, this active region was showing a beta-gamma-delta configuration, the largest there is. And it’s the largest active region on the solar disk at present. Shortly after the explosion, an R3 (strong) radio blackout affected an area over Fiji Island in the South Pacific Ocean. A brief analysis by specialists reveals the event did not produce a coronal mass ejection (CMEs). But modeling and analysis will continue. This active region is headed toward the center of the sun’s disk, which will put it in an Earth-effective position in the days to come. Maybe more activity awaits us. Stay tuned.

Sun news for February 21, 2024: Solar southeast wakes up with a huge blast

Today’s top news: During the past few days we’ve observed solar activity in the northeast, northwest and southwest, with the southeast remaining dormant. But not anymore! The southeast woke up earlier today with a huge blast, which hurled a gorgeous prominence of solar material into space at around 1:53 UTC this morning. The explosion came from the very edge of the southeast horizon, and was associated with an active region that is soon to rotate into view. And that’s not the only reason the southeast has grabbed our attention; the region has also been graced with a new coronal hole that emerged over the past day. Soon it will move into a geoffective position, meaning that the fast solar wind it produces will be headed our way at Earth. And that brings the possibility for beautiful auroral displays – stay tuned.
Last 24 hours: Sun activity remains low, with only 7 C flares produced between 11 UTC yesterday and 11 UTC today. The largest of these flares was a C4.4 flare, blasted in the southeast by an incoming as-yet-unnumbered active region at 2:17 UTC this morning. It was followed by another bright spark just below the equator on the east limb (edge). The lead flare producer title for the past day is shared by the unnumbered incoming region, AR3590 and AR3583, all blasting two C flares each. AR3590 remains the largest active region on the solar disk, and some growth was observed; it’s now showing a beta-gamma magnetic complexity. Although this classification suggests a strong flaring potential, it remained rather quiet, producing only faint C flares. The other two of the three labeled active regions on the sun show an alpha magnetic configuration – the most simple.
Next 24 hours: The forecast is a 99% chance for C flares, a 30% chance for M flares, and a 5% chance for X flares.
Next expected CME: No coronal mass ejections (CMEs) were observed in available coronagraph imagery during the past day.
Current geomagnetic activity: Earth’s geomagnetic field is quiet at the time of this writing (11 UTC on February 21) but a disturbance was registered late yesterday. This was likely a passing influence from the CME the sun produced on February 16. More unsettled conditions are anticipated today, reducing to quiet by the end of the day as the CME effects wane. After that, quiet conditions are anticipated for tomorrow.

Sun news for February 20, 2024: Think of our sun as a star

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Overnight according to clocks in the Americas, a huge blast occurred on a part of the sun we can’t quite see from Earth. We know this because it produced a massive rope of plasma and magnetic fields that appeared over the solar southwest horizon. This rope is known as a prominence. It likely came from sunspot group AR3576, which recently got carried off the solar disk by the sun’s rotation. If this sunspot group stays intact, it’ll arrive back into view on the other horizon in around a couple of weeks. That’s because our sun completes a full rotation in about 25 days at the equator, and a little longer at the poles. So, yes, although we tend to visualize our star as a flat disk in the sky, it’s really a colossal sphere, occupying the same 3D space as 1.3 million Earths. And, while the sun is certainly massive in contrast to our little Earth, it’s only an average-sized star. The biggest star we know of, UY Scuti, is 1,700 times wider than the sun! So even our gigantic sun is still a drop in the ocean of the universe.
Last 24 hours: Sun activity is low, with only 7 C flares produced over the past day. The largest was a C5.7 flare produced by sunspot region AR3590 at 12:47 UTC on February 19. This region was the lead flare producer of the past day with four flares, shortly followed by AR3583 with three. AR3590 is the largest sunspot region on the solar disk, and can be seen without any magnification if you wear the proper eye protection, such as eclipse glasses. Currently the sun bears five labeled active regions, all of which are stable or in decay. In the northwest, the long-lasting prominence we have been observing since yesterday ended with ejecta dancing above the solar horizon. Most of the plasma was returned to the solar surface by the sun’s gravity. Yesterday’s huge prominence in the northeast was registered by the SOHO spacecraft’s LASCO C2 and C3 instruments, showing the characteristic lightbulb shape of a coronal mass ejection (CME). Take a look at our LASCO imagery below.

Sun news for February 19, 2024: Hi, Mercury!

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Today, we welcome Mercury as it enters the field of view of the SOHO spacecraft’s LASCO C3 imagery. It looks beautiful, and it’ll be fun to watch in the coming days as it crosses the sun’s field of view. Mercury is our sun’s innermost planet. It’ll appear near the sun in our sky six times in 2024, crossing either generally behind or generally in front of it as seen from Earth. Mercury’s current crossing is a passage behind the sun. It’ll appear most behind the sun as seen from Earth at around 9 UTC on February 28. Astronomers call this a superior conjunction of Mercury. Meanwhile, a newcomer sunspot region – now labeled AR3590 – has rotated fully into view, making a grand entrance. That is, as it was coming, we saw a fiery northeast limb (edge) on the sun, with a big far side explosion. The explosion came from a long-lasting prominence beyond the northeast horizon. BOOM! The prominence ended in an explosion, and the huge blast hurled large amounts of ejecta into space. At the same time, hello newcomer AR3590! We might expect great things from AR3590, as it is also quite active. Even when it wasn’t quite visible and still unnumbered, we saw it blasting C flares. Now that we can take a look at this guy, it looks big. It’ll surely be the next interesting sunspot region to follow, now that last week’s hero, AR3576, has been carried out of view by the sun’s rotation. Stay with us.
Last 24 hours: Sun activity is low. The sun produced 11 C flares during the past day (11 UTC yesterday and 11 UTC today). The largest was a C6.8 flare blasted by active region AR3590 at 9:40 UTC on February 19. Today we have shared honors for lead flare producer, AR3583 and AR3590, which each produced four C flares. But AR3590 produced the largest of the period. We saw a rather calm solar disk with faint C flares, but there is fiery activity – enormous long-lasting prominences – on three corners of our sun: northeast, northwest and southwest. The sun bears six labeled active regions today. All of them are showing an alpha or beta magnetic configuration, indicating a low potential for flaring. But, for now, it’s still too early to discern a full analysis on AR3590, due to its location too close to the sun’s limb (making us a foreshortened view).

Sun news for February 18, 2024: Huge prominence from solar south pole

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On our side of the sun, activity is low. We’ve had C flares only. But, during the past day, it seems the far side has been active! We saw a fast and huge prominence coming out from the sun’s south polar region. The SDO spacecraft captured its image at 13 UTC on February 17. The large prominence dwarfed the size of Earth, which would be minuscule in contrast. The LASCO C2 coronagraph aboard the SOHO spacecraft registered the explosion at 13:36 UTC. And its brother instrument – LASCO C3 – registered it at 13:54 UTC. LASCO C3 also shows it produced a partial halo event. If we see a partial halo from an event on our side of the sun, we know a coronal mass ejection (CME) is likely headed our way. But, since this prominence blasted off from the sun’s far side, the CME is not Earth-bound.
Last 24 hours: Sun activity is low, with the production of only C flares during the past day (11 UTC yesterday and 11 UTC today). The sun produced 13 C flares and the largest of them  was a C7.9 flare blasted by active region AR3584 at 18:34 UTC on February 17. Lead flare producer of the period was an incoming active region on the northeast, unnumbered yet, who produced six C flares followed by AR3583 producer of four flares. Our just-departed hero AR3576 still is making noise from the far side via gorgeous prominences and jets on the visible sun’s southwest limb. The sun currently has six labeled active regions on its Earth-facing side, all of them showing an alpha or beta magnetic configuration, indicating a low potential for large flares.

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Bottom line: Sun news February 21, 2024 UPDATE: BAM! X Flare! The huge active region AR3590 blasted an X1.8 flare at 23:07 UTC on February 21. An R3 (strong) radio blackout over Fiji Island followed.