? ? ? ? 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

The EarthSky sun news team created this video for you. We hope you enjoy it!

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!

The EarthSky sun news team created this video for you. Thanks for watching!

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

The EarthSky sun news team created this video for you. Thanks for watching!

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.

The post Sun news UPDATE: Double Bam! The sun releases a 2nd X flare first appeared on EarthSky.

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

The EarthSky sun news team created this video for you. Thanks for watching!

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.

Sun news for February 17, 2024: Calm after the storm. Sun activity at moderate

• Sun activity back to moderate with the production of an isolated M flare.
• Only faint flares and jets on the solar disk.
• Flaring productivity reduced as well, with only eight flares in the last 24 hours.

The calm comes after the storm. Sun activity is back to moderate levels with an M3.0 flare. The producer (you are not going to believe this): AR3576! This guy does not want to leave. It produced six flares, the M included. AR3576 blasted the flare at 22:09 UTC on February 16, 2024, as it departs on the southwest limb (edge). We also saw jets and prominences from this region as it makes its way to the far side of our sun.
Last 24 hours: Sun action during the past day consisted of faint jets and plasma lifting here and there all over the solar disk. Besides AR3576’s action, there was a filament explosion on the northeast at around 16:20 UTC in the vicinity of sunspot region AR3586. It’s associated with a C6.2 flare in this active region. Between 11 UTC yesterday and 11 UTC today, there were 11 flares, an M plus 10 Cs. An R1 (minor) radio blackout  over the Fiji Islands in the middle of the South Pacific Ocean resulted from the M flare. The sun currently has seven labeled active regions on its Earth-facing side.

Sun news for February 16, 2024: BAM! X flare!

• BAM! X flare! Departing region AR3576 erupts with a humongous flare and prominence before leaving.
• Solar maximum is showing itself, with flares and prominences all over the sun today.

X flare! Departing sunspot region AR3576 is leaving in style, erupting with an X2.5 flare and producing a huge prominence over the sun’s western limb (edge) earlier today. The blast caused an R3 (strong) radio blackout over the South Indian Ocean. This large region has been a champion of activity over the past weeks. We’re sad to see it go, as it rotates out of view over the western horizon. Given that the region is so far off to the solar west, you might think today’s blast wasn’t Earth-directed. In fact, a region on the sun’s western limb has a good chance of being magnetically connected to Earth. The sun’s magnetic field comes out in a spiral, like a lawn sprinkler (called the Parker spiral). This spiral creates a magnetic super-highway, allowing solar energetic particles released during a large eruption to travel along the magnetic field to Earth. In fact, we saw this very effect earlier this week. So far we’ve not seen a rise in measured particles, but we’ll keep you updated.
Last 24 hours: Sun activity was high over the past day after the production of an X flare, the strongest flare category. The event was an X2.5, blasted by the week’s most active region, AR3576, at 6:53 UTC on February 16. The eruption came with a huge, gorgeous prominence that hurled plasma into space. Shortly after the flare an R3 (strong) radio blackout affected an area over the South Indian Ocean. The past day has been a great show of a sun at Solar Maximum; we also saw large prominence eruptions all around the sun, both from the Earth-facing side and the far side. Most of the eruptions were not Earth-directed, but some may be – we await further analysis. The sun produced 17 flares between 11 UTC yesterday and 11 UTC today: an X, two Ms, and 14 C flares. The largest was the aforementioned X2.5 flare by sunspot region AR3576. Once again AR3576 was the lead flare producer of the period, with 13 flares out of the 17: the X, the two Ms and 10 Cs. Impressive stuff! Although it’s soon to rotate out of view, this region could still release some more big flares from over the limb (edge). The sun currently has seven labeled active regions on its Earth-facing side.

? ? Sun news for February 16, 2024: Bam! X flare!

? Departing region AR3576 erupts with a humongous flare and prominence before leaving.

? Solar maximum shows itself, with flares and prominences all over today.

? MORE at EarthSky: https://t.co/xD29wLfm4e pic.twitter.com/HphiMVYLXp

— Dr. C. Alex Young (@TheSunToday) February 16, 2024

Sun news for February 15, 2024: Big blast from new sunspot region

??Sun news for February 15, 2024: Newcomer sunspot region and its big blast

?The region in the NE shows off potential by saying hello with a big entrance, releasing a huge prominence.

?Departing AR3576 is the main flare producer,

?MORE at EarthSky: https://t.co/xD29wLfm4e pic.twitter.com/FShpTsw1TY

— Dr. C. Alex Young (@TheSunToday) February 15, 2024

• A newcomer active region on the northeast showed off its potential, saying hello with a huge, gorgeous prominence.
• Soon-to-depart AR3576 was by far the most active region, flaring all day long.

Newcomer sunspot region AR3586 introduced itself this morning with a huge prominence eruption. The coronal mass ejection (CME) it produced was unlikely to be Earth-directed, as the sunspot group is too far to the northeast, but we await a full analysis of the event. And from a newcomer active region to one that is soon to depart, sunspot region AR3576 was again the leading flare producer. It fired off an impressive 18 C flares from near the southwest horizon, where it will soon rotate out of view. It would have been a very quiet day if it had already departed; if not for a C5.1 flare from AR3586 and a couple of last-minute flares from an as-yet-unnumbered region in the southeast, AR3576 would have been the past day’s only flare producer.
Last 24 hours: Sun activity was low during the last 24 hours. The sun only produced 21 C flares between 11 UTC yesterday and 11 UTC today. The largest was a C7.5 flare by sunspot region AR3576 at 17:56 UTC on February 14. AR3576 was also the lead flare producer of the period, with 18 C flares out of the 21. This region is still the largest in extent, and it maintained its beta-gamma-delta magnetic complexity, meaning it’s got the potential for M flares and even X flares. Although it’s soon to rotate out of view, it could still release some big flares from over the horizon. The sun currently has seven labeled active regions on its Earth-facing side, including new kid on the block AR3586.

Sun news for February 14, 2024: With love, The Sun

• The sun’s visible gifts to us on February 13-14 include M flares and coronal mass ejections, with solar prominences dancing over the northern limb and some lifting off into space!
• A significant eruption from the sun’s far side in the past day suggests potential solar activity in the days ahead, as this far-side region rotates into our view.
• Deadly solar energetic particles continue to strike the SOHO spacecraft, highlighting the importance of understanding the sun and its effects as we go forward into the space age, and toward the future of humanity on Earth.

The sun has brought us many exciting gifts over the past day. The first of several coronal mass ejections (CMEs) has reached us, promising auroral displays. Several M flares, or moderately sized flares, lit the sun’s atmosphere. Prominences danced over the sun’s northern limb (edge), and some lifted off into space. And a huge eruption blasted off from the far side of the sun; it shows us what might be in store on the sun’s visible face, as this active region rotates into our view. But the sun’s love can also turn deadly, in the sense that solar energetic particles, produced by two major eruptions on the sun’s western limb (edge) a few days ago, continue to pound the SOHO spacecraft. Fortunately for us humans, our planet Earth, with its thick atmosphere and large magnetic field, provide ample protection to keep us safe here on the ground. Out in space is another story. That’s one reason we, as a civilization, stand vigil on our star via spacecraft like SOHO. The sun is our benefactor. But some of its gifts (such as its deadly radiation from events like those in recent days) create a challenging space environment. For the sake of our bodies, and our technologies, we need to be as knowledgeable as possible about our star and its ways, as we expand beyond this big blue marble!
Last 24 hours: Sun activity continues at moderate levels thanks to a couple of M flares during the past day. Flaring production during the period between 11 UTC yesterday and 11 UTC today is: 15 Cs and two Ms. The largest event was an M1.1 flare from AR3582 at 3:10 UTC on February 14. A corresponding R1 (minor) radio blackout affected an area over Australia. It was followed by a M1.0 flare by AR3576 at 7:35 UTC on February 14. There was a R1 (minor) radio blackout over South Indian Ocean, east of Madagascar. A new growth was observed during the period on sunspot region AR3576, which recovered its high-potential delta magnetic complexity, now showing again a beta-gamma-delta. It is rapidly approaching the southwest limb for departure. Expectations on a spectacular farewell grow along with its regained delta.  It remains the largest sunspot group, visible from the ground without any magnification if you wear the proper eye protection, such as eclipse lenses.  AR3576 keeps the lead flare producer position, with nine flares produced, an M and eight Cs. A gorgeous prominence on the top northwest limb (edge) dancing for hours and finally hurled a chunk of plasma into space and made it look like floating plasma off the solar disk.

? ? Sun news for February 14, 2024: Happy Valentine’s Day from the sun!

? ? The sun has brought us many exciting gifts.

? MORE at EarthSky: https://t.co/xD29wLfm4e pic.twitter.com/ArM1VNaL9H

— Dr. C. Alex Young (@TheSunToday) February 14, 2024

Sun news for February 13, 2024: Auroras incoming from cannibal CME

• The sun hurled multiple coronal mass ejections (CME) toward Earth on February 10 and 11.
• The most recent CME may catch up with the others, merging into one larger blob of sun-stuff: a cannibal CME.
• It will arrive today, possibly causing a G2 (moderate) geomagnetic storm. And that could bring auroral displays in northern latitudes.

A cannibal CME is coming! It sounds scary, but the result is likely to be beautiful auroras. The sun hurled multiple coronal mass ejections (CMEs) toward Earth on February 10 and 11, and analysis suggests that the most recent CME may catch up with the others, merging into one larger blob of sun-stuff: a cannibal CME. This is expected to arrive today, possibly disturbing Earth’s magnetic field enough to cause a G2 (moderate) geomagnetic storm. And that could bring auroral displays in northern latitudes, as far south as the U.S. states of Oregon and Maine. Clear skies, aurora chasers! Meanwhile, the sun is not easing up in its ferocious activity. Over the past day we observed three massive blasts on both the east and west limbs (edges). Nothing has been fired to Earth this time, but wow – these were spectacular. Check them out in the video above.
Last 24 hours: Sun activity remains moderate after the production of four M flares during the past day. Between 11 UTC yesterday and 11 UTC today the sun produced a total of 14 flares, with 10 Cs adding to the M flares. Here’s a breakdown of the M flares:
M1.1 flare by AR3576 at 13:08 UTC on February 12. R1 (minor) radio blackout over the South Atlantic Ocean.
M1.5 flare by AR3576 at 15:48 UTC on February 12. R1 (minor) radio blackout over Brazil.
M2.7 flare by an as-yet-unnumbered active region incoming in the northeast at 21:17 UTC on February 12. R1 (minor) radio blackout over French Polynesia.
M1.6 flare by AR3576 at 22:04 UTC on February 12. R1 (minor) radio blackout over French Polynesia.
Our hero of the past week, sunspot region AR3576, showed some decay and lost its high-potential delta magnetic complexity. But it remains the largest sunspot group, visible from the ground without any magnification if you wear the proper eye protection, such as eclipse lenses. AR3583 also decayed and lost its beta-gamma complexity. The rest of the seven labeled sunspot regions all have simple alpha configurations. AR3576 was the lead flare producer, with three Ms and four Cs. A gorgeous prominence on the top northeast limb (edge) hurled a chunk of plasma into space and left beautiful displays of coronal rain behind.

? ? Sun news for February 13, 2024: Auroras in the forecast! Massive blasts from the limbs

? ? Auroras in the forecast!

? ? The sun is also busy with three massive blasts from both the East and West limbs (edge).

? MORE at EarthSky: https://t.co/xD29wLfm4e pic.twitter.com/UuHs9Ry3TU

— Dr. C. Alex Young (@TheSunToday) February 13, 2024

Sun news for February 12, 2024: Another one! What fun!

• We had an X flare on February 9, an almost-X flare on February 10, and another strong M6.5 flare earlier today. And why not? We’re near the peak of the sun’s 11-year cycle of activity.
• This morning’s flare is still under analysis, but it was mostly south-directed and will likely miss Earth.
• Glancing blows from solar CMEs are expected late on February 12, and again on February 13. That could mean auroras!

We’ve had a glorious past few days of sun activity! And why not? The peak of the sun’s 11-year cycle could be this year. Remember the X flare on February 9? Then we had an almost-X flare on February 11. And, earlier today, it was deja vu all over again, with sunspot region AR3576 – in the sun’s bullseye and still looking straight at Earth – releasing another strong flare, an M6.5. Just as with the M9 flare, this eruption caused a coronal wave and coronal dimming, suggesting another fat CME. The CME spacecraft images appear to show mostly a southward-aimed event – in other words, not coming Earth’s way – but we await more information to determine if there is an Earth-directed component. The event also produced a blast of high energy particles appearing as snow on SOHO (Solar and Heliospheric Observatory) images. The particles have currently reached the S1 radiation storm level, but don’t worry. Earth’s atmosphere protects us from them. Meanwhile, SDO images and GOES SUVI images show a huge eruption on the sun’s far side. And the SDO (Solar Dynamics Observatory) images show the bright core, with SUVI showing the extended prominence. It all looks quiet dynamic! And it’s been an exciting past few days! Stay tuned for more.
Last 24 hours: Sun activity levels are moderate. Between 11 UTC yesterday and 11 UTC today, the sun produced 15 C flares and two M flares. The largest event was an M6.5 from AR3576 at 03:23 UTC on February 12. Most of today’s flares came from AR3576 but the other M flare, an M1.1, came from an unnumbered region on the NE limb (edge). Both M flares produced radio blackouts. The M1.1 event produced an R1 blackout over the Pacific, and the M6.5 flare produced an R2 blackout over Indonesia and Australia. A large filament eruption occurred on the far-side around 6:30 UTC on February 12, 2024. It was captured in the wide field of view of the GOES SUVI telescope, the 304 angstrom wavelength channel. AR3576 has kept its beta-gamma-delta magnetic complexity. It has decayed some, decreasing about one Earth in size. It is still over three Earths in surface area. Region AR3583 has increased in magnetic complexity to beta-gamma. The sun has seven sunspot regions on its Earth-facing side.

Sun news for February 11, 2024: Almost-X flare from sun’s bullseye

Sunspot region AR3576 erupted with an almost-X flare – an M9 – near the center of the sun’s visible disk late yesterday. The flare happened at 22:56 UTC on February 10, and we all got excited. Would the eruption send a chunk of sun-stuff – a CME – our way? And would we then get a great auroral display? The eruption did send a coronal or EIT wave out, blowing out a huge bubble of solar plasma with it. It caused a nearby area on the sun to darken in a wavelike fashion, creating what’s called a coronal dimming. A fast coronal mass ejection (CME) was measured, moving at about 4.3 million miles per hour (7.2 million km/h). But aimed Earth’s way? No. The CME was directed northward. So it is not expected to hit Earth directly, but might give us a glancing blow, forecast for February 13. It could still bring a G1 (minor) geomagnetic storm and aurora. Stay tuned.
Last 24 hours: Sun activity levels are moderate. Between 11 UTC yesterday and 11 UTC today, the sun produced 11 C flares and one M9, an almost-X flare from AR3576. The almost-M flare created a temporary R2 radio blackout over the Pacific Ocean yesterday. Otherwise, the high-energy protons associated with the February 9 X flare continued over the past day, but at a reduced level. They are now at the S1 radiation storm level. A filament erupted from the northeast at the end of our observing period (11 UTC yesterday to 11 UTC today). A prominence dancing around the north pole slowly separated into space. Though no longer in a position for us to see flaring from it, AR3575 released a large back side eruption around 7 UTC today. The sun has seven numbered active regions today.

? ? Sun news for Feb 11, 2024: Almost X flare and CME from disk center

? ? AR3576 erupted with an almost X flare, M9. The eruption sent a coronal/EIT wave northwestward, blowing out a huge bubble of solar plasma with it.

? MORE at EarthSky: https://t.co/xD29wLfm4e pic.twitter.com/2qPykDEuwM

— Dr. C. Alex Young (@TheSunToday) February 11, 2024

Sun news for February 10, 2024: Powerful X flare blasts particles from the limb

? ? ? ? ? Kaboom!! Another look at the X flare – X3.4 from AR3575 around the W limb. It produced a fast CME over 2,000 km/s, 7.2 million kph. The location sent particles our way showing up as snow on the camera showing the CME.? ?

MORE at EarthSky: pic.twitter.com/jdT40RK8o0

— Dr. C. Alex Young (@TheSunToday) February 9, 2024

C. Alex Young posted the above video on X/Twitter and said: “Kaboom!! Another look at the X flare – X3.4 from AR3575 around the W limb. It produced a fast CME over 2,000 km/s, 7.2 million kph. The location sent particles our way showing up as snow on the camera showing the CME.”

X flare! This most powerful category of solar flare peaked 13:14 UTC yesterday. The X3.4 flare came from AR3575, which recently rotated out of view over the sun’s southwest limb (edge). Given its location, the sunspot region was partially occulted (blocked). That means the X flare was larger than X3.4. The X flare produced a strong, fast coronal mass ejection, or CME, now measured at over 2,000 kilometers per second or 7.2 million kilometers per hour (about 4.3 million miles per hour). Because of the flare’s position on the sun’s limb, however, any sun-stuff released by the CME is likely not headed toward Earth. Shortly after the blast, an R3 (strong) radio blackout affected an area over the South Atlantic Ocean. The eruption associated with the X flare created a surge of high-energy protons, traveling at close to the speed of light, that reached the SOHO spacecraft causing “snow” on the images from the LASCO coronagraphs. This solar energetic particle event, or SEP, caused the proton levels measured by the GOES spacecraft to first reach S1 and then eventually S2 alert levels shortly after the X flare. These particles appear to be leveling out, but they’re still elevated.
Last 24 hours: Besides the X flare, the sun also produced three M flares in the past day. This kind of activity is what we expect near Solar Maximum. An unnumbered, incoming region from the southeast produced one of the M flares. The event released a beautiful eruption visible in extreme ultraviolet and a CME seen in SOHO/LASCO. The northeast limb (edge) has enormous long-lasting prominences and coronal loops dancing on the limb, telling us that more action will soon rotate into view. So, no surprise that sun activity is high today. Between 11 UTC yesterday and 11 UTC today, the sun produced an X, three Ms and ten C flares for a total of 14 flares. Lead flare producer of the period: AR3576, which produced 10 flares, two Ms included. The largest was the X3.4 flare from AR3575. This is the second largest X flare of the solar cycle. The X and M flare breakdown is:
1. X3.4 (AR3575) at 13:14 UTC on February 9. R3 (strong) radio blackout over the South Atlantic Ocean.
2. M1.2 (AR3576) at 18:00 UTC on February 9. R1 (minor) radio blackout over the South Pacific Ocean.
3. M1.5 (AR3576) at 00:51 UTC on February 10. R1 (minor) radio blackout over Fiji Island.
4. M3.4 by an unnumbered, incoming region on the southeast at 3:54 UTC on February 10. R1 (minor) radio blackout over the northwest coast of Australia.
The sun has five active regions on its Earth-facing side.

???Sun news for Feb 10, 2024: The sun wakes up with an X flare, 3 Ms!

??What a day! Action we anticipated from the southeast is visible from an incoming active region, producing an M flare. The event released a beautiful eruption

?MORE at EarthSky: https://t.co/xD29wLfm4e pic.twitter.com/WfWDAfNNCN

— Dr. C. Alex Young (@TheSunToday) February 10, 2024

Sun news for February 9, 2024: X flare!

X flare! It peaked 13:14 UTC this morning. An X-flare is the most powerful category of solar flare. This X 3.4 flare came from AR3575, which has just rotated out of view over the sun’s southwest limb (edge). Given its location, the sunspot region was partially occulted (blocked). That means the X flare was larger than X3.4. It shows a clear eruption and coronal wave indicating a strong, fast coronal mass ejection, or CME. Because of the flare’s position on the sun’s limb, though, any sun-stuff released by the CME is likely not headed toward Earth. Otherwise … what a day the past day has been for the sun! Its journey towards Solar Maximum continues, with a massive 31 flares produced over the past day, including 6 M flares. We also saw more action on the northeast limb (edge), where enormous long-lasting prominences and coronal loops danced on the horizon, telling us that more action will soon rotate into view. And that’s exactly what happened in the southeast, where a long-awaited sunspot group finally made its full appearance. We’ve been observing its activity from over the horizon, and the region now has a name: meet AR3581. Stay tuned to see what it will bring.
Last 24 hours: Thanks to the X-flare, sun activity is now high. We had six M flares and 25 C flares between 11 UTC yesterday and 11 UTC today. Then we had the X flare after our deadline, centered on 13:10 UTC today. AR3575 apparently produced the X flare. And AR3576 produced four of the M flares and 16 of the C flares. Other than the X flare, the largest event was an M4.0, also from AR3575, at 23:55 UTC on February 8. AR3575 is now beyond the western horizon, meaning that the sun blocked much of what was actually larger than an M4 … and it means the X flare was larger than X3! Each M flare was followed by a corresponding R1 (minor) radio blackout affecting an area where the sun was high in the sky. The list of the M flares over the period is:
1. M3.5 by AR3576 at 13:12 UTC on February 8
2. M1.2 by AR3574 at 14:18 UTC on February 8
3. M1.8 by AR3576 at 15:23 UTC on February 8
4. M1.3 by AR3576 at 19:02 UTC on February 8
5. M4.0 by AR3575 at 23:55 UTC on February 8
6. M3.2 by AR3576 at 00:41 UTC on February 9
The sun has eight active regions on it Earth-facing side, including newcomer AR3581.

Sun news for February 8, 2024: Solar edge is teeming with activity

Keeping up the appearance of a sun reaching solar maximum, the solar limb (edge) is teeming with activity all around. Coronal loops from sunspot region AR3575 are visible over the western horizon, while a new region – potentially substantial in size – is producing coronal loops in the southeast. Plus, a prominence on the southern limb (edge) erupted in the past day. There were no notable eruptions on the solar disk, but AR3576 did produce an M1.4 flare yesterday evening. This region is still a strong candidate for substantial eruptions; its main sunspots have mixed magnetic polarity delta regions, which indicate the potential for M and even X flares.
Last 24 hours: Sun activity is moderate with the production of an isolated M1.4 flare. Fired from AR3576 at 18:05 UTC on February 7, this was the largest flare of the period. It produced an R1 (minor) radio blackout affecting an area over the South Pacific Ocean off the west coast of South America. Flare production between 11 UTC yesterday and 11 UTC today was 10 Cs and the one M flare. The lead flare producer was AR3576 with six flares. This sunspot group is the largest in extent and the most magnetically complex with a beta-gamma-delta magnetic configuration. The sun currently has eight labeled active regions on its Earth-facing side.

Sun news for February 7, 2024: Activity high after M5 flare and CME

Sunspot region AR3575, the producer of yesterday’s back-to-back M flares, released an even bigger M5.2 flare earlier today. It also produced an eruption that launched a coronal mass ejection (CME) westward. This region will soon rotate out of view over the western horizon, but it’s currently showing potential for much more activity before it’s gone. And the other major sunspot group we’ve been watching, AR3576, is not down for the count. Although quiet compared to AR3575, it carries a similar potential for big flares and eruptive activity. That includes potential excitement from the filaments that are surrounding the region. And even if these sunspot groups don’t deliver on their potentials, areas all around the limb (edge) are stirring with prominences, promising more action to come. Stay tuned!
Last 24 hours: An M5.2 flare from AR3575 has brough activity to high. It occurred at 3:04 UTC on February 7, and caused an R2 (moderate) radio blackout off the north coast of Australia. This was the largest of two M flares from the region over the past 24 hours, the second being an M1.3 flare at 18:38 UTC on February 6. It produced an R1 (minor) radio blackout off the west coast of South America. Between 11 UTC yesterday and 11 UTC today the sun produced 11 flares: two Ms and nine Cs. The lead flare producer was AR3575 with six Cs and the two Ms. It also fired off an eruption that produced a coronal mass ejection (CME) and a coronal or EIT wave. AR3576 kept its beta-gamma-delta magnetic complexity while AR3575 has a beta-delta configuration. Both both regions have the potential for more M and even X flares. These two regions are still the largest and most active of the eight numbered active regions currently on the sun’s Earth-facing side.

Sun news for February 6, 2024: Double M flare and filament eruption

Bam bam! Sunspot region AR3575 – one of two large active regions on the sun’s Earth-facing side right now – delivered back-to-back M flares earlier today. After watching the above video, you might be wondering: where’s the second flare? It does look like the one flare, but we know that two were produced because we can see two peaks in X-ray emissions during this event – see for yourself in the chart below. This double-M flare produced a spectacular filament eruption and coronal mass ejection (CME), a great burp of solar material and magnetic fields fired out into space. After the flares, an arcade of post-flare loops formed. AR3575 and AR3576 – the other large active region we’re watching – both now measure several times the size of Earth. And both carry the magnetic potential for more substantial activity!
Last 24 hours: During the past day, sun activity has been moderate with the production of two M flares. Between 11 UTC yesterday and 11 UTC today we saw two Ms and nine C flares. Here’s a breakdown of the M flares:
1. M2.2 flare by AR3575 at 2:28 UTC on February 6, causing an R1 (minor) radio blackout over Australia off the north coast.
2. M4.3 flare by AR3575 at 3:12 UTC on February 6, causing an R1 (minor) radio blackout over Australia.
The lead flare producer of the period was AR3576 with six C flares. AR3575 and AR3576 both show a promising beta-gamma-delta magnetic complexity. They are also the largest active regions currently, and you can see them without any magnification if you wear the proper solar viewing protection. A filament is erupting in the northwest. There are some large filaments near and wrapped around AR3576 that are worth watching. The sun currently has ten numbered active regions on its Earth-facing side.

Sun news for February 5, 2024: Fantastic flurry of M flares!

Eleven M flares in the past day! Sun activity is now high. And, wow, some of us here (but not Alex!) feel like soothsayers. Of course, it’s not soothsaying. It’s science! Early yesterday, we noticed that two regions – AR3575 and AR3576 – showed strong flaring potential. That’s due in part to their magnetic complexity. And AR3576 then went on to produce 10 of the past day’s 11 M flares, and 19 of a total of 25 flares in the past 24 hours. As for the coming day, overall flare probability is up, due to the sheer number of flares in the past 24 hours, not to mention the ongoing magnetic complexity of AR3575 and AR3576. And – as the sun’s rotation has carried AR3576 more into view – we’re better able to observe its size. And it’s a whopping 4.5 times as big as Earth! The chance of X flares – the strongest flares – on any given day is typically around 5-10%. But today’s it’s 25%!
Last 24 hours: Eleven M flares brought sun activity to high. Ten came from AR3576 and one from AR3575. The total flare production was 25 between 11 UTC yesterday and 11 UTC today. The largest event was an M2.7 from AR3576 at 22:34 UTC on February 4. The full list of M flares is:
M1.4 at 11:40 on Feb 4 (AR3576)
M1.5 at 16:22 on Feb 4 (AR3576)
M1.3 at 17:05 on Feb 4 (AR3576)
M1.1 at 18:16 on Feb 4 (AR3575)
M1.3 at 20:52 on Feb 4 (AR3576)
M2.1 at 22:20 on Feb 4 (AR3576)
M2.7 at 22:34 on Feb 4 (AR3576)
M1.8 at 22:45 on Feb 4 (AR3576)
M2.2 at 04:13 on Feb 5 (AR3576)
M1.5 at 04:36 on Feb 5 (AR3576)
M1.5 at 06:26 on Feb 5 (AR3576)
All of these flares caused R1 (minor) radio blackouts over the sun-facing side of Earth as each flare occurred. Radio blackouts are centered where the sun is highest in the sky at the time of the flare. AR3575 has decreased somewhat in size to about 1 1/2 times the area of Earth. AR3576 is much larger at 4 1/2 times the area of Earth. Both AR3575 and AR3576 have high magnetic complexity with delta regions. AR3575 is more complex with a beta-gamma-delta configuration. AR3576 is gamma-delta but its flare output indicates that it may be more complex. Because it has not fully rotated into view, an accurate magnetic complexity determination is more difficult. Over time, the probability of flaring has increased. Stay tuned to see if these regions bring us more excitement.

Sun news for February 4, 2024: 2 sunspot regions turn up the heat

EarthSky’s favorite solar astrophysicist Dr. C. Alex Young of NASA Goddard Spaceflight Center – and Deborah Byrd – produced this sun news video for you. Thanks for watching!

Today’s top news: Yesterday, the unnumbered sunspot region on the sun’s southeast limb – and a newly emerged region in the sun’s southwest – promised action. Now, both are humming along and might be poised to give us some strong flares. The unnumbered region, now labeled AR3576, released 20 of the past day’s 23 C flares. Around the same time, sunspot AR3575 in the southwest, exploded in size from nothing to nearly twice the area of Earth! These two regions – plus a third region, AR3565, which has increased in magnetic complexity – bring a strong promise of action across the sun. AR3575 now has a beta-gamma-delta magnetic configuration, giving it a strong flare potential. And AR3576 probably has significant magnetic complexity, too, given its prolific flaring in the past day. But this region needs to rotate better into view before its true potential can be properly determined. Stay tuned for more sun excitement!
Last 24 hours: Sun activity is low, but flaring amount has increased significantly with 23 C flares between 11 UTC yesterday and 11 UTC today. AR3576, the newly numbered region in the southeast, produced 20 of these flares, including the day’s largest event, a C6.4 at 21:29 UTC on February 3. AR3575 region grew significantly over the past 24 hours, growing in 3 days from nothing to a region nearly two Earths in area. Plus, AR3575 produced the day’s remaining 3 C flares.

Sun news for February 3, 2024: A flurry of coronal jets

Sunspot region AR3571 released a flurry of coronal jets over the past day. These jets of plasma (ionized gases) shoot up from active regions and may help scientists better understand different phenomena on the sun. AR3571 also produced about of 1/3 of today’s flares along with its nearly continuous release of coronal jets. These may contribute to some coronal mass ejections (CMEs) toward Earth if this activity keeps up for a few more days. Plus, a new region hot on its heels may add to the excitement. The new, unnumbered region was still behind the southeast limb (edge), yet it was the main flare producer for the day, accounting for at least half of the flares. Helioseismology shows the region has the potential for more activity. These two areas will take about 26 days to rotate completely around the sun. So that means we should see them on the Earth-facing disk for roughly two weeks. If they continue with this level of action, we’ll have lots of time for some sun fun.
Last 24 hours: Sun activity is low with C flares during the past day. The sun produced 11 C flares between 11 UTC yesterday and 11 UTC today. The largest event was a C7.7 from from an unnumbered incoming active region on the southeast limb (edge) at 5:54 UTC on February 3. This region is the lead producer with five C flares. Active region AR3571 produced a few flares but with nearly continuous coronal jets. Active region AR3565 developed a beta-gamma magnetic complexity. The remaining regions are either alpha or beta. AR3571 is the largest region on the disk. Newcomer AR3575 emerged from nowhere in the middle west.

Sun news for February 2, 2024: The sun is losing mass!

The EarthSky sun news team created this video for you. Thanks for watching. And if you enjoy our videos, please subscribe, like and share!

Late last night, a beautiful prominence erupted in the northwest, sending a huge blob of solar plasma and magnetic fields into space. Soaring at several million miles per hour, this bubble of solar stuff included about a billion tons of matter. You might be wondering – how can the sun keep losing that much mass and still have enough mass to be a star? Well, a billion tons might be a phenomenal amount of mass, but it’s actually just a drop in the solar bucket. The solar wind – which the sun constantly releases into space – carries away about 1.6 million tons of mass per second. And even that is small compared to the amount of mass the sun loses by turning its stores of hydrogen into energy. Knowing how much of this energy the sun releases into space, we can use Einstein’s famous equation E=mc2 to calculate how much hydrogen mass the sun loses to form this energy: 4.7 million tons per second, or 3.3-with-17-zeros lbs. Think that seems huge? The sun contains 4.4 x 10 to the power of 30 lbs of mass, – that’s 4.4 followed by 30 zeros! So don’t worry – today’s prominence may have fired out a lot of matter, but the sun still has enough to continue for another 5 billion years.
Last 24 hours: An isolated M flare has raised sun activity to moderate. AR3571 produced the M1.2 flare at 3:01 UTC on February 2. Shortly after the eruption, an R1 (minor) radio blackout affected an area over the north coast of Australia. There was no flare associated with the huge prominence in the northwest, but it occurred in the vicinity of our old friend AR3559, which passed over the horizon just yesterday. The total flare production between 11 UTC yesterday and 11 UTC today was 16 flares: the M1.2 and 15 Cs. AR3571 was the lead flare producer of the period with 8 flares including the M flare. The sun has seven sunspot regions on its Earth-facing side, including five newcomers: AR3570, AR3571, AR3572, AR3573 and AR3574.

Sun news for February 1, 2024: Prominence action on the edge

Our attention has been drawn to the solar limb (edge) all of this week, and the same is true today; prominences have been dancing around on all edges of the sun over the past 24 hours. And, even though sunspot region AR3559 has departed over the western limb, the action is now coming from unnumbered regions arriving in the southeast, and regions just over the southeastern horizon. Similarly, although the coronal holes we have been monitoring have now gone, a new hole has just developed in the south near the central meridian. When one door closes on the sun, another tends to open! That’s especially true with the sun approaching solar maximum, likely over the next year. January saw some short bursts of exciting activity – stay tuned to see what February will bring.
Last 24 hours: The sun produced 13 C flares during the past day, keeping activity at low. Between 11 UTC yesterday and 11 UTC today, the largest event was a C3.1 flare from an unnumbered region in the northeast at 7:43 UTC, February 1. Sunspot region AR3567 was the leading flare producer, and it also developed a beta-gamma magnetic complexity, indiciating an increased potential for larger flares. The sun currently has five sunspot regions on its Earth-facing side. There is a newcomer in the southwest, AR3569.

The post Sun activity archive for February 2024 first appeared on EarthSky.

Timeanddate published this original article on January 4, 2024. Edits by EarthSky. Video by Deborah Byrd.

Biggest eclipse miss of 2024

At new moon on January 11, 2024, the moon will “miss” the sun on our sky’s dome by a relatively large distance: 4.99 degrees. That’s about the width of three fingers held at arm’s length. And it’s around 10 times the width of the sun in the sky, making it the biggest eclipse miss of the year.

As a result, it will also be the most-illuminated new moon of 2024. At the precise moment of new moon – 11:57 UTC on January 11 – the moon will be 0.19% lit.

The lit portion of a crescent moon is, of course, a glimpse of the moon’s day side. So, strictly speaking – instead of its day entirely turned away from Earth – the January 2024 new moon will appear as a vanishingly thin crescent moon.

What makes an eclipse?

To have a solar eclipse, the moon must be at the new phase. We generally say that new moon is when the moon passes between Earth and the sun. It’s when the moon is 0% lit as seen from Earth.

This is roughly what happens … but not exactly. If the new moon passed exactly between Earth and the sun every month, it would produce a solar eclipse each time.

Instead, the moon normally passes a little bit above or below the sun in the sky.

The 2024 lunar calendars are here! Makes a great New Years gift. Check ’em out here.

Why it’s a big eclipse miss

Solar eclipses happen when the sun, Earth and moon come into alignment at new moon.

This alignment doesn’t occur at every new moon, because the moon’s orbit is tilted by about 5 degrees. You can see the tilt in the not-to-scale illustration above.

At new moon in January 2024, the moon is close to its farthest distance beneath the plane of Earth’s orbit. This imbalance produces the biggest possible eclipse miss.

Read more: Total solar eclipse in North America April 8, 2024

A fraction of a percent of illumination

Likewise, the imperfect sun-moon-Earth alignment shown above is the reason the illumination of the moon’s disk doesn’t quite drop to zero.

In fact, this happens to some extent at most new moons. The following table shows the percentage of the lit moon, as seen from Earth, at every new moon in 2024. (That’s if you could see the new moon in the glare of the sun from Earth!)

Two perfect alignments in 2024

There are two new moons in the above table, on April 8 and October 2, when the moon’s illumination drops to 0.00%. This is because there is a perfect alignment of the sun, moon and Earth on these dates … which also means there is a solar eclipse.

The new moon of April 8 will produce a total eclipse across parts of Mexico, the United States and Canada. Six months later, the new moon of October 2 will produce an annular eclipse across Rapa Nui (Easter Island) and the southern tip of Chile and Argentina.

Find eclipses in your city, state, or country.

Watch eclipses LIVE on timeanddate.com.

Expert photographers might catch January’s eclipse miss

It’s important to note that – for most of us – the thread-like crescent of the new moon will invisible. Like most new moons, it’ll be utterly lost in the dazzling glare of the sun.

But expert photographers might try to catch it. Check out the top of this post to see another vanishingly thin crescent moon, at the exact moment of new moon. Master astrophotographer Thierry Legault caught it in the year 2013.

WARNING: Never look directly at the sun, and never point a telescope or binoculars in the direction of the sun. It can cause serious and permanent eye damage in seconds.

Bottom line: January’s new moon will be an ultra-thin crescent moon due to its less-than-perfect alignment with the sun and Earth. It will also be the biggest eclipse miss of the year.

Read more: Total solar eclipse in North America April 8, 2024

The post 2024’s biggest eclipse MISS happens January 11 first appeared on EarthSky.

2024 will be the year of the great total solar eclipse that will sweep across North America! The eclipse will happen on April 8, 2024. Read about it here.

5 solar eclipses that changed our view of the world

For millennia, the motions of the sky compelled storytellers and mystics. The moon, in particular, became a repository for our irrational beliefs. But a solar eclipse can offer a reality check in spectacular form. Here’s a glimpse of how science progressed and changed the world during five historic eclipses.

The 2024 lunar calendars are here! Best New Year’s gifts in the universe! Check ’em out here.

The Ugarit Eclipse (1223 BCE)

One of the earliest recorded solar eclipses is the Ugarit Eclipse of 1223 BCE. The Babylonian city of Ugarit was a center of learning. Babylonians methodically studied the moon, making it one of the earliest subjects of scientific research. Their lasting contribution is the Saros cycle. A Saros cycle is approximately 6,585.321 days, and astronomers use it to predict eclipses. Based on Babylonian records, the Greeks established that similar eclipses appear in patterns every 18 1/2 years. In an era when people considered eclipses to be bad omens, it was the beginning of science.

The Thales Eclipse (585 BCE)

The Thales Eclipse of 585 BCE is famous for being the first predicted eclipse. Although in dispute, some claim that the Greek philosopher Thales of Miletus predicted the solar eclipse that was observed from a battlefield in Anatolia. The famous sci-fi writer Isaac Asimov called the eclipse prediction the “birth of science.” In addition, the Greeks deduced the moon’s influence on ocean tides. The Greeks also mainstreamed some less credible ideas, such as astrology and lunacy, which we can trace back to Ptolemy and Aristotle.

Halley’s Eclipse (1715)

Isaac Newton likely saw three eclipses during his lifetime. Halley’s Eclipse of 1715 might have been the most notable. The name Halley comes from Newton’s close friend, astronomer Edmond Halley. You probably know Edmond Halley for the comet, whose reappearance he accurately foretold. Well, Halley also correctly predicted the eclipse of 1715 to within four minutes and produced the first detailed map of totality. The moon’s orbit was trackable to a fine degree, and Newton used it to verify his theory of gravity.

The Eddington Eclipse (1919)

The Eddington Eclipse of 1919 is the purest example of an eclipse used for scientific validation. Eight years earlier, Einstein’s general theory of relativity predicted gravity would bend light. His theory was testable … during a solar eclipse, researchers could view the stars near the sun and see if they appeared slightly off from their usual positions. Traveling with bulky equipment, Arthur Eddington set out to the West African Island of Principe while a second expedition journeyed to the Brazilian town of Sobral. Both teams encountered bad weather on the day of the eclipse, but Eddington captured one photo that was clear enough to confirm the shift. The eclipse confirmed relativity and made Einstein famous.

The Eclipse of the Century (1970)

Occurring in the midst of the Apollo missions, the eclipse of 1970 has been largely forgotten. Grazing nearly the entire Eastern Seaboard of the United States, it was dubbed the Eclipse of the Century. It was the first eclipse televised in color, and also the first eclipse photographed by space satellite. It crossed directly over one of NASA’s rocket facilities, and NASA took full advantage by launching 32 suborbital rockets to study meteorology, the ionosphere and solar physics.

If our view of the moon and sky can change during a solar eclipse, then our view of the world can also change. We just need to look at the moon and be prepared to see something amazing. So, when’s the next total solar eclipse? On April 8, 2024, a total solar eclipse will cross Mexico, the United States, and Canada. Make plans to view it now!

Bottom line: Throughout history, total solar eclipses have blazed a path for science. Learn more about five solar eclipses that changed our view of the world.

The post 5 solar eclipses that changed our view of the world first appeared on EarthSky.

On New Year’s Eve 2023, the sun blasted a huge X flare, the biggest of solar cycle 25 so far. It came from sunspot region AR3536 and measured X5 on the solar flare intensity scale. The eruption produced a wave that rippled across the sun’s face in all directions. It produced a coronal mass ejection, or CME, a great clump of superheated matter that left the sun and traveled outward into our solar system.

At first, experts thought this material would strike Earth a glancing blow, possibly causing a display of the aurora borealis or northern lights. But then it missed us entirely.

So what is an X flare? And can X flares harm us here on Earth?

Visit EarthSky’s daily sun news post

The 2024 lunar calendars are here! Makes a great New Years gift. Check ’em out here.

What are X flares?

Flares on the sun often happen in places where there are dark areas called sunspots. That’s where the sun’s magnetic fields are strongest and most complex.

Scientists classify flares according to their strength. The smallest ones are B-class, followed by C and M. X flares are the largest category of solar flares. 

The biggest X-class flares are by far the largest explosions in our solar system. NASA says:

Made visible to us by sun-observing satellites, these solar flares are awesome to watch. Loops of solar material – called plasma – leap off the sun’s surface and expand to 10 times the size of Earth. The biggest flares can produce as much energy as a billion hydrogen bombs

The frequency of solar flares waxes and wanes in an 11-year cycle. And the sun is currently moving towards another solar maximum. The peak of the current cycle is now being predicted for this year, 2024.

So we can expect more X flares as this year progresses.

The Halloween solar storms

A particularly strong group of solar storms – which occurred from mid-October to early November in the year 2003 – produced the most powerful solar flare ever recorded by humans.

It was during the peak of another 11-year solar cycle. The sun was producing many solar flares and coronal mass ejections. On October 28, 2003, a storm occurred that was so strong, it overwhelmed the detectors set up to observe solar flares. The sensors cut out at X28. But, due to saturation of the detectors, scientists knew it was really much stronger. They eventually modeled it to be as strong as X45.

The 2003 solar storms caused satellite communications blackouts. They caused localized power outages in Sweden. They became known as the Halloween solar storms. The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) spacecraft captured this image of a that powerful X flare as it erupted from the sun in 2003.

Image via ESA.

The Carrington Event

Another famous solar storm – another X flare famous for its power – must have occurred in the year 1859. According to a 2016 study, on September 2, 1859, the British astronomer Richard Carrington saw the flare as a blast of white light on the sun’s surface. He later described it as:

… a singular outbreak of light which lasted about five minutes.

Afterwards, according to 2005 study, a report in the The Illustrated London News said that:

Sparks flew from telegraph machines in Paris.

The Washington Star in 1859 said that telegraph lines experiencing “a superabundance of electricity in the air” enabled telegraph machines to send messages from New York to Pittsburgh without the aid of batteries. They called it:

… One of the most startling as well as singular electrical phenomena.

Meanwhile, many parts of Earth experienced intense auroras. According to an 1859 report in the Weekly West newspaper, auroral displays were so bright that people in Missouri could read by them. The 2016 study said that people witnessed auroras as far south as the tropics, including in Cuba, Jamaica and Panama.

Many still speak of this event today. They call it the Carrington Event. Many wonder what would happen if a Carrington Event-sized flare happened today, in our our highly technological world that is so highly dependent on electricity.

M and X flares and their effects

Meanwhile, both B and C flares are too weak to affect Earth in any noticeable way.

Both M flares and X flares can cause brief radio blackouts on Earth. Plus, both M and X flares can release coronal mass ejections (CMEs). When CMEs do strike Earth, they disturb our planet’s magnetic field, often causing beautiful auroral displays. So aurora-watchers look forward to them!

But can X flares harm us? Generally speaking, the answer is no. Here on Earth’s surface, Earth’s atmosphere protects us from harm. Some people do say they notice effects from solar flaring, although – among scientists – these possible effects are still a matter for debate.

But – as with the 1859 Carrington Event, when earthly technologies were in their infancy – big CMEs have been known to interrupt communications satellites and power grids. NASA said:

That’s one reason NASA and NOAA – as well as others – constantly watch the sun to monitor for X-class flares and their associated magnetic storms. With advance warning, these scientists have a system for protecting many satellites and spacecraft from the worst effects of most magnetic storms.

As the current solar cycle – Solar Cycle 25 – reaches its peak, possibly in 2024, we can expect more X flares. Visit our sun sun post for daily updates.

Bottom line: X flares on the sun are the most powerful explosions in the solar system. We’re likely to see more of them as we approach solar maximum, due around 2025.

Visit our sun news post for daily updates

The post What are X flares? Can they harm us? first appeared on EarthSky.

Astronomy author and photographer Alan Dyer spoke to the Hamilton Amateur Astronomers group about how to photograph (and still enjoy!) the 2024 total solar eclipse. So, if you also want to try your hand at photography, you can watch Alan Dyer’s advice in the video above. Or read on for a summary of his tips.

How to photograph a solar eclipse

Total solar eclipses go by pretty quickly. In 2017, I was in Wyoming and was treated to the fastest two minutes and 19 seconds of my life as the moon blotted out the sun. So first you have to decide if it’s really worth your effort and the stress of photographing the eclipse. For me, personally, I only plan to hold my phone up a couple times during the 2024 totality and snap a couple amateurish shots. I know that I won’t be able to get anything as beautiful as astrophotographers can do. And that’s what Alan Dyer recommends in his first of five possible levels for photographing the eclipse: the easiest method is taking a photo with your phone.

Here are his five options for photographing the eclipse, in increasing order of difficulty:

1. Phone camera
2. Wide-angle time-lapse
3. Telephoto videos
4. Telephoto stills
5. Telescope on tracking mount

1. A phone camera photograph of a solar eclipse

Alan says that you can set your camera on a wide-angle lens view in order to capture the ground and the sun at the same time. Or you could zoom in to capture a closeup of the sun during totality. But he says the best shot with your phone’s camera will be to mount it on some type of tripod and then set it to take a time-lapse. Or, perhaps better yet, is take a 4K movie that will capture your expressions of awe and wonder as the eclipse progresses. In this case, he recommends starting a minute or two before totality, so you don’t have to fuss with it and can just enjoy the event.

2. Wide-angle time-lapse

Set your camera up on a tripod and set it on auto exposure. Manually focus the lens on infinity. Then start the camera before totality and let it do all the work! The camera will take hundreds of images while you enjoy the view live.

Depending on what size lens you use, you may be able to include the landscape in your photo. This will be more challenging in areas where the sun will be higher in the sky. You may want to use planetarium software with field-of-view indicators to set up the framing and composition of your images. You’ll want to do the planning and framing in advance, so you’re not under a time crunch when the moment of eclipse arrives.

Some of the more technical aspects that Alan includes are: set the exposure with wide area sampling (not spot metering), set exposure compensation to -1 EV, and use an intervalometer with 1-second interval.

Using the same camera, you could also shoot 4K video, and this time you’ll capture the audio as well.

And don’t forget to turn off your camera when totality ends!

3. Telephoto videos

To take a telephoto video through your camera, Alan recommends using a 300mm to 500mm lens on a fixed tripod. For the partial phases, you’ll want an approved solar filter. Set up and practice taking images of the sun before the day of the eclipse.

Alan sets up his camera with the filter on, and rechecks the focus a couple minutes before totality. Then, about a minute before totality, he takes the filter off when he is no longer looking through the lens. Of course, as always, keep in mind that looking through a camera at the sun can result in blindness. So don’t do that! And remember to replace the filter after totality.

As with the previous methods, he says that you can use autofocus for easy and clear results. And just let the sun drift through the frame. Some of the other technical specifications he recommends are to leave the lens aperture wide open and have a low ISO. Make sure you have a solid tripod and head.

4. Telephoto stills

If you want close-up still images of the eclipse, you’ll want to use a telephoto lens on a camera with a tripod, or else a small telescope. The exposure length can vary widely depending on what you want to capture. A one-second exposure can capture more of the wisps of the corona and earthshine on the dark side of the moon. While a 1/1000 exposure will give you a better look at the diamond ring.

Alan says to shoot the largest RAW image you can and to use your DSLR camera on live view. With a mirror-less camera, Alan recommends using the electrical 1st-curtain shutter.

Auto-exposure bracketing will let you click the shutter once and have it take a range of exposures for you. You can set this up as a custom shooting mode so that you can click in and out of it easily.

5. Telescope on a tracking mount to photograph a solar eclipse

The most difficult option is to use your telescope on a tracking mount to photograph the eclipse. Hopefully you already have experience with your telescope and mount and have practiced photographing with your setup. But if you want to have a really close-up view of the eclipse, you’ll need to have it tracking the sun and moon so that there’s no blurring in your images.

Alan suggests using the crescent moon as practice for the eclipse. Here are some questions to ask yourself while practicing taking images with the moon:

• Does everything connect securely?
• Can you focus accurately?
• When you handle the camera, does it blur your image?
• How long of an exposure can you take?

And if it’s cloudy on eclipse day … go ahead and shoot long exposures anyway, especially during the partial or diamond ring phases. Who knows what your camera might capture? As long as you have the tracking set up, your camera knows where the eclipse is even through the clouds.

If you want even more tips from Alan, watch the full video above!

Bottom line: Get tips on how to photograph a solar eclipse with author and astrophotographer Alan Dyer. Use these tips for the April 8, 2024, total solar eclipse.

Via Alan Dyer on Hamilton Amateur Astronomers’ YouTube

The post How to photograph a solar eclipse, with Alan Dyer first appeared on EarthSky.

The fiery regions we’ve highlighted throughout this week, on the sun’s northwest and southeast horizons, have kept up the show. And this morning we saw a huge jet of sun-stuff erupting from the sun’s southeast! This great column was made of solar plasma, a substance not found often on Earth … sometimes called a “4th state of matter” after solids, liquids and gas. Solar plasma contains both particles and magnetic fields. It’s what interacts with the interplanetary environment of our solar system to create space weather. Today’s column of plasma extended 40 to 50 Earth-diameters into space! The GOES-R SUVI space telescope, which has a much wider field of view than the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), captured this massive blast, as seen in the images at the top of this post.
Last 24 hours: Low sun activity levels continue, with 13 C-class flares fired between 11 UTC yesterday and 11 UTC today. The largest was a C5.7 flare from active region AR3559 at 17:40 UTC. Firing 6 C flares from beyond the solar limb (edge), it seems this sunspot region doesn’t want to leave! The flares it is producing will be larger than what we can observe, as the horizon is blocking part of the emitted light. The sun currently has four sunspot regions on its Earth-facing side, including three newcomers: AR3566, AR3567, and AR3568.

Sun news for January 30, 2024: Double fun! Activity on 2 sides

The EarthSky sun news team produced this video for you. Hope you enjoy it!

Yesterday’s excitement of an M6.8 flare – with its corresponding solar particle storm at Earth – has extended into today. That big blast happened on the northwest solar limb, the edge that’s receding from our view, and there’s continuing action on that edge of the sun today. What does the sun care, after all, about the length of our earthly days? Hence AR3559 in the northwest is displaying energetic jets and huge loops of condensing plasma, aka coronal rain. These loops appear to have formed after the M6.8 flare, and so sun scientists call them post-flare loops. Meanwhile on the sun’s opposite limb – the side that’s now coming into view – we’ve seen a dancing prominence and accompanying jets of plasma. Double fun in the west and east over the past day! Stay tuned to see if this solar symphony reaches another crescendo.
Last 24 hours: Sun activity is back to low after the production of only C class flares during the past day. Between 11 UTC yesterday and 11 UTC today, the sun released 16 C flares. The largest of the period was a C6.0 flare by AR3559 at 14:56 UTC. The S1 radiation storm associated with yesterday’s M6.8 flare has started to wane. AR3559, now over the western limb (edge), could still produce some interesting activity. The sun currently has three sunspot regions on its Earth-facing side.

Sun news for January 29, 2024: Solar particle storm happening now

In the words of Paul Atreides of Frank Herbert’s Dune … The sleeper has awakened! The quiet sun days are over and departing sunspot region AR3559 is going out with a pop! It released a huge eruption just over the sun’s northwest limb (edge) earlier today. The eruption produced a large brightening, an M6.8 solar flare, bringing sun activity levels to high. This flare’s beauty was in its subtlety, as well as its strength. Large coronal loops rose up from the sun with an intense brightening. Then came a pop, in the form of snow on the solar telescopic images, as high-energy protons blasted away from the sun at near the speed of light. It was as if you had a balloon coated with water droplets that expanded so suddenly it popped, sending out a spray of water (or, in this case, high-energy protons). The bulk of the solar stuff flung into space should largely miss Earth, given its location on the sun’s limb (edge). But that’s not the case for the solar protons, which are called solar energetic particles. Much like a spinning water sprinkler, the sun’s magnetic field comes out in a spiral (the Parker Spiral). And – because of their electric charge – the protons follow the magnetic fields spiraling away from the sun. This magnetic particle highway curves back toward Earth from the sun’s western limb (solar particle storms are most comment from the western side of the sun). The event that released the protons earlier today reached levels triggering an S1 solar particle storm. That’s S1 on the NOAA scale of S1-S5. That particle storm is still ongoing at the time of this writing (11 UTC on January 29). Solar particle storms sometimes last for days. They can continue to increase in intensity. There’s no danger to us on Earth’s surface. Our atmosphere is thick and stops the particles. And Earth’s magnetic field acts as a kind of force field, keeping them away. But the particles can create a hazardous radiation environment for astronauts in Earth orbit. In the most extreme storms – stronger than today’s storm – radiation levels can be hazardous to airline staff flying polar routes. Plus, they can cause radio blackouts at Earth’s poles (polar cap event) as the particles spiral down Earth’s magnetic field. And they can damage spacecraft solar panels, as happened in the famous Bastille Day Flare of July 14, 2000.
Last 24 hours: Activity levels are high. Departing sunspot region, AR3559, released an M6.8 solar flare. The sun produced 17 C flares and two M flares, the largest of which was the M6.8 flare from AR3559 on January 29 at 3:54 UTC. The other M flare was an M1.3 from AR3559 on January 29 at 1:29 UTC. The M6.8 and the M1.1 flares produced radio blackouts over Australia and Indonesia. The M6.8 flare had an associated S1 radiation storm that has caused a radio blackout over the poles, called a polar cap event. AR3559 has almost rotated out of view. Currently, the sun has four sunspot regions on the Earth-facing solar disk.

Sun news for January 28, 2024: Quiet Earth and quiet sun day

The EarthSky sun news team produced this video for you. Happy sun day!

We have hit another solar lull. It’s a quiet sun day, with just three visible sunspot regions on the sun’s Earth-facing side, two on the west limb (edge) and one on the east limb. Flaring levels and quantities are low, and the probability of flaring has decreased. The past day isn’t the lowest sun activity we’ve seen. But it’s low, which is par for the course, one of the ups and downs of the 11-year solar cycle. In other words, the cycle as a whole is a big up-and-down. And there are also little ups-and-downs on shorter timescales within the bigger cycle. During the overall up time – near solar maximum as now – we can see wiggles of relative high and low over the scale of weeks. It’s not unlike the fluctuations you and I experience within earthly seasons. During the winter months, we might have a warm day. Related to the lull at the sun is a lull at Earth in geomagnetic activity. There are fewer solar eruptions, so there are fewer geomagnetic disturbances. As we have seen in the recent past, activity will pick up soon. Perhaps the regions on the far side – which we discussed yesterday – will bring in some action! Stay tuned.
Last 24 hours: Activity levels are low. The sun produced 14 C flares, the largest of which was a C2.3 flare from AR3559 on January 27 at 22:47 UTC. The Earth-facing solar disk is almost bare, with only three sunspot regions on the limbs (edges). Region AR3561, even though rotated over the limb (edge), is still producing flares though they are partially blocked by the sun and so larger than they seem. AR3559, the largest region currently on the sun, produced the most flares of the visible regions. It appears that some of the regions seen on the back side are getting close to the limb (edge) and producing flares. Two coronal holes have rotated into positions allowing their solar wind to reach Earth. This solar wind may induce some enhanced aurora in the next several days.

Sun news for January 27, 2024: Back-side action. Sunspots from Mars

The EarthSky sun news team produced this video for you. Thanks for watching!

Sun action now is on the far side. Over the past day, we saw a couple of large prominences – great arcs of solar material and magnetic fields – beyond the sun’s limb (edge), over the northwest and southeast quadrants. They might be the same active regions revealed indirectly via helioseismology – like seismology, studying the interior by observing surface vibrations – and seen directly by the Mars Perseverance rover. Yup, Mars is in our early morning sky now. But it’s still near our line of sight to the sun, looking at the side of the sun we can’t see. If these back-side active regions survive, we’ll see them rotate into view on the Earth-facing side of the sun in the next several days.
Last 24 hours: After being peppered with up to 13 numbered active regions on its Earth-facing side, today the sun shows an almost clear face with only faint sunspot regions. AR3559 kept its beta-gamma magnetic complexity and is the largest in area and extent. AR3561 is still sending up flares from beyond the solar horizon, but the rest of the labeled active regions remain stable with no flaring. The last day’s observation period between 11 UTC yesterday and 11 UTC today showed fewer and smaller flares than the day before. We observed nine C flares. The largest was a C3.0 flare from an unnumbered region in the southwest at 20:24 UTC on January 26. Despite being over the limb (edge), most of today’s flaring came from AR3561. Also, because AR3561 is around the edge of the sun, the flares are probably even larger than what we measure. We’ve been following a couple of coronal holes. The one located in the south is now centered and geoeffectively positioned. That means in a couple of days we may start receiving the fast solar wind it produces. The one located in the north is not directly in line with Earth, but some of its fast solar solar wind could still reach Earth. The sun currently has four labeled active sunspot regions. There is a newcomer today on the solar disk now labeled AR3563.

Sun news for January 26, 2024: Bye-bye sunspot region AR3561

Farewell, AR3561. The region that gave us ten M flares in a single day has left the building – or, at least, rotated out of view. It departs with still more to give, with its beta-gamma magnetic complexity indicating a good potential for more M and even X flares. However, this is a good time to mention that correctly determining the complexity of a region on the edge of the sun is very difficult. This type of magnetic field measurement only really works when viewing a region from above. Also, if the sunspot group does produce any big flares, they’ll now be partially blocked by the horizon, so they’ll appear smaller than they actually are. AR3561’s heyday is sadly over!
Last 24 hours: We are still waiting for possible coronal mass ejection (CME) impacts and the resulting geomagnetic storms and auroras. This possibility is decreasing as time passes. Sun activity is back to low, with only C flares produced over the past day. Between 11 UTC yesterday and 11 UTC today 10 Cs were fired, including six from departing region AR3561. The region produced two C9.0 flares, which were the largest flares of the period. The first came at 0:33 UTC and the second at 4:59 UTC, both on January 26. We’re continuing to watch the new large coronal holes as they rotate west. As they move into geoeffective positions, their fast solar wind could increase the chances for auroral displays. The sun currently has five labeled active regions.

Sun news for January 25, 2024: Awaiting auroras

The EarthSky sun news team produced this video for you. Thanks for watching!

The expected geomagnetic storm didn’t arrive last night, and we’re still awaiting the arrival of several coronal mass ejections (CMEs) fired between January 22 and 23. The potential resulting G1 (minor) geomagnetic storm would mean auroras for northern latitudes, so stay tuned. On the sun, sunspot region AR3561 remains the center of attention, but its output has dropped from 10 M flares to just the one in the past 24 hours. It has retained its beta-gamma magnetic complexity, indicating the potential for more M and even X flares, but it better act fast – it will soon rotate out of view on the western limb (edge). However, AR3559 – which also has a beta-gamma complexity – has only just passed the center of the solar disk, so it’s got plenty of time to give us a show. Plus, scientists using helioseismology have detected two large sunspot regions on the far side of the sun, so even more action could be on the way.
Last 24 hours: Sun activity remains moderate, but flare production between 11 UTC yesterday and 11 UTC today decreased to 13 flares: one M and 12 C flares. This is a substantial decrease from the previous day, which saw 24 flares including 11 Ms. The past day’s single M flare, an M1.3, came from AR3561 at 20:58 UTC on January 24. The flare caused an R1 (minor) radio blackout over the South Pacific Ocean. AR3561 was again the leading flare producer, firing ten of the 13 flares. The Earth-facing solar disk currently has six numbered sunspot regions. There are a couple new large coronal holes that we have been observing since yesterday, one in the northeast and the other in the southeast. Their fast solar wind may enhance auroral displays when the holes move into geoeffective positions.

Sun news for January 24, 2024: Busy sunspot region AR3561

The EarthSky sun news team produced this video for you. Thanks for watching!

Today our attention has been grabbed by sunspot group AR3561. This group displayed some intense activity over the past day, blasting 10 of the day’s 11 M flares, as well as 7 C flares. We also saw the active region gain several sunspots and develop a beta-gamma magnetic complexity, which means it has an increased potential for more C, M, and maybe even X flares. We’ll have to keep an eye on this region. As a result of AR3561’s activity, multiple coronal mass ejections (CMEs) are expected to reach Earth during the next day. That means possible auroral displays! Good luck, aurora hunters, and please share your photos with us.
Last 24 hours: Today’s sun activity is moderate after the production of 11 M flares. Between 11 UTC yesterday and 11 UTC today, we saw an additional 12 Cs for a total of 23 flares. The lead flare producer was sunspot region AR3561 with 17 flares: 10 Ms and 7 Cs. The largest flare was an M4.3 from AR3561 at 16:40 UTC on January 23. Shortly after the flare an R1 (minor) radio blackout affected an area over Chile.
Here’s a list of the M flares fired over the past 24 hours (all times UTC):
M1.0 by AR3561 at 12:58 on January 23 – R1 (minor) radio blackout over the middle of the South Atlantic Ocean,
M1.0 by an unnumbered region in the northeast at 13:08 UTC – R1 radio blackout over the South Atlantic Ocean,
M1.3 by AR3561 at 14:59 on January 23 – R1 radio blackout over the east coast of Brazil,
M4.3 by AR3561 at 16:40 on January 23 – R1 radio blackout over Chile,
M1.0 by AR3561 at 18:28 on January 23 – R1 radio blackout off the west coast of Chile,
M1.1 by AR3561 at 18:44 on January 23 – R1 radio blackout over the South Pacific Ocean,
M1.0 by AR3561 at 19:52 on January 23 – R1 radio blackout over Easter Island,
M1.0 by AR3561 at 20:01 on January 23 – R1 radio blackout over Easter Island,
M1.1 by AR3561 at 00:38 on January 23 – R1 radio blackout over Fiji,
M2.7 by AR3561 at 1:40 on January 24 – R1 radio blackout over the northeast coast of Australia,
M1.4 by AR3561 at 5:43 on January 24 – R1 radio blackout over the South Indian Ocean.
The Earth-facing solar disk currently has seven numbered sunspot regions.

Sun news for January 23, 2024: What a day! Huge flare increase and multiple CMEs

The EarthSky sun news team produced this video for you. Thanks for watching!

What a day of solar activity! Over the past day we saw increase in the number of flares, an increase in flare intensity, an M5.1 flare (that’s halfway to an X flare), and a filament eruption that produced an Earthbound coronal mass ejection (CME). You name it, we saw it! And to top it off, we’re anticipating a geomagnetic storm with possible auroral displays tonight. After more than a week-long lull, the sun is back to showing the behaviour we’d expect from a star on its way to solar maximum.
Last 24 hours: Today’s sun activity is high after the production of an M5.1 flare. Between 11 UTC yesterday and 11 UTC today, we saw 9 M flares and 17 Cs for a total of 26 flares, a marked increase in flare quantity and intensity compared to the previous day. The lead flare producer was sunspot region AR3561 with 23 flares: 7 Ms and 16 Cs. The largest flare, an M5.1, was fired by AR3559 at 3:31 UTC on January 23. A corresponding R2 (moderate) radio blackout occurred over Australia. Here’s a breakdown of all the M flares fired over the past 24 hours (all times UTC):
M1.1 by AR3559 at 19:24 on January 22 – R1 (minor) radio blackout over the South Pacific Ocean.
M1.3 by AR3561 at 19:32 on January 22 – R1 radio blackout over the South Pacific Ocean.
M2.0 by AR3561 at 19:47 on January 22 – R1 radio blackout over the South Pacific Ocean.
M3.4 by AR3561 at 21:21 on January 22 – R1 radio blackout over Fiji.
M1.6 by AR3561 at 21:43 on January 22 – R1 radio blackout over Fiji.
M2.1 by AR3561 at 22:22 on January 22 – R1 radio blackout off the northeast cost of Australia.
M5.1 by AR3559 at 3:31 on January 23 – R2 (moderate) radio blackout over Australia.
M2.4 by AR3561 at 8:22 on January 23 – R1 radio blackout over the east coast of Madagascar.
M2.4 by AR3561 at 9:30 on January 23 – R1 radio blackout over the east coast of Madagascar.
The Earth-facing solar disk currently has seven numbered sunspot regions.

Sun news for January 22, 2024: Twofer! Aurora tonight. Sun flares up!

This week is starting off with excitement! We anticipate auroral displays at Earth tonight … and, following last week’s lull, solar flaring picked up over the past day. A coronal mass ejection (CME) from January 20 is expected to strike Earth’s atmosphere and magnetosphere later today. It means we might see auroral displays down to the northern U.S. states and northern Europe. The geomagnetic storming should begin late today (in UTC) and extend through early tomorrow. If you’re at a northerly (or southerly) latitude, tonight is a good time to pull out your warm clothing for a possible nighttime spectacle. Consider sharing your aurora through the EarthSky photo community. Meanwhile, on the sun itself, sunspot region, AR3559, has grown in size and complexity over the past day. It tripled in size over the weekend! And it’s brought with it increased flaring, so that sun activity today risen from last week’s “low” to “moderate.” This sunspot region produced 13 of the 19 flares in the past day, including one M flare. And here’s a plus! Anyone with eclipse glasses or a solar projector has a chance to see sunspots today. AR3559 is the size of more than two Earths. It can be seen without magnification. Whether you’re a daytime viewer, or nighttime viewer … clear skies to you all!
Last 24 hours: Today’s sun activity is moderate. We had 18 C flares and 1 M flare between 11 UTC yesterday and 11 UTC today. The largest was an M1.5 from AR3559 at 6:09 UT on January 22. Regions AR3559, 3560, 3561, and AR3562 experienced growth. AR3559 experience the most growth and change, tripling in size over the weekend and developing a beta-gamma region showing an increased chance for M and X flares. The Earth-facing solar disk has eight numbered sunspot regions.

Sun news for January 21, 2024: CME on its way. Aurora expected!

Sun news January 21. The EarthSky sun news team created this video for you. Thanks for watching!

The coronal mass ejection (CME) from yesterday’s on-disk filament eruption is on its way to Earth. The CME may have several parts spreading out the impact from mid-to-late January 22. Both NASA and NOAA expect the impact to start sometime around 11 to 13 UTC on January 22. First the initial shock … then the bulk of the impact should arrive. So the geomagnetic storming – and the aurora – are expected late January 22, and into early January 23. NASA is estimating G1 to G2 geomagnetic storms. Meanwhile, NOAA currently estimates a G1 storm. Aurora may be seen in U.S. states as far south as Iowa, Washington, Illinois, New York, and in Europe as far south as Denmark, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Poland. Aurora in the southern hemisphere may be seen as far north as New Zealand and Tasmania. Clear skies and good luck, aurora-watchers!
Last 24 hours: Today’s sun activity is still low, albeit with an increase in flares. We had 16 C flares and 1 B flare between 11 UTC yesterday and 11 UTC today. The largest was a C6.3 from AR3559 at 1:57 UT. The region continues as the top flare producer with the most events at 13 of the 17 flares. Regions AR3559, 3560, and 3561 all experienced growth and a new region, AR3562, emerged in the southwest. A filament just below AR3559 erupted around 1:30 UTC on January 21, 2024. It appears to be to the sun’s east, away from Earth, but we await further analysis. The Earth-facing solar disk has nine numbered sunspot regions.

Sun news for January 20, 2024: Double blast from the sun

Sun news January 20. The EarthSky sun team produced this video for you. Thanks for watching!

The sun released two massive, nearly simultaneous ropes of solar plasma earlier today (around 8:40 UTC on January 20). Both are in the east, one from the eastern limb (edge) and the other just to the west of it on the solar disk. Both giant ropes of sun stuff are called erupting filaments. But – because of its location – we typically call the one on the solar limb an erupting prominence. Prominences and filaments are the same thing! But we see them differently. And so this different naming is historical. At one time, scientists thought these two type of events were different. Now, we realize we just see them them from different perspectives. But the name prominence stuck. Now, it just means a filament seen on the limb with space behind it. Neither eruption had notable flares associated with them. But both produced coronal mass ejections (CMEs). Given their locations, the CMEs most likely don’t have Earth-directed components. But more imagery is needed to make a more confident determination. By the way, these two events happened as – from the perspective of the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) – the sun was just emerging from behind the Earth. Yes, we’re now in SDO’s eclipse season, which will last through February 10.
Last 24 hours: Today’s sun activity continues at low levels. During the past day, the sun’s flaring consisted of only  C and B flares. Between 11 UTC yesterday and 11 UTC today, the sun produced six C and four B flares. The largest was a C3.5 flare from an unnumbered incoming active region in the southeast at 9:34 UTC on January 20. The top flare producer was active region AR3559 with a C and three Bs during the period. The numbered regions had either alpha or beta magnetic complexity. There are nine numbered sunspot regions. A newcomer, AR3561, emerged near disk center.

Sun news for January 19, 2024: Today’s date on the sun in 2005, surprise!

Sun news January 19. The EarthSky sun team produced this video for you. Thanks for watching!

Today we’re looking back 19 years – to January 19, 2005 – and the days around it. It was two to three years after a Solar Max, and it’d been a quiet time on the sun, a lull, much like we’ve experienced this week. But the sun surprised us! Starting around January 10, 2005, a little sunspot emerged near the sun’s northeast limb. Over the next two days, it grew to a massive region the size of our solar system’s largest planet, Jupiter. And it kept its size as it crossed the sun’s Earth-facing side. Over that time, starting on January 12, 2005, we quickly went from small C flares (relatively weak flares) to many M (moderate) flares. And, by January 15, 2005, we’d seen a total of four X flares, or very strong flares! By January 20, 2005, we’d seen many more M flares and a total of six X flares. The final X flare – on January 20, 2005 – was an X10! That’s a big, big flare on the sun. In today’s video, you can watch the sunspot region grow rapidly. Next, the flare X-ray monitor shows the fast rise from C, to M, to X before things calm back down once the region rotates out of view. By the way … we didn’t have the mighty sun-observing SDO spacecraft then. But we had its predecessor, SOHO, which gave us a similar view. In the video, the flares are visible in the Extreme-ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (EIT) aboard SOHO. Several of the events produced particle storms apparent as a sudden burst on snow on the images. During this period, the associated coronal mass ejections (CMEs) from the M and X flares produced numerous geomagnetic storms at Earth including strong G4 storms on January 19 and 22, 2005. Stay tuned to see if the sun has anything like this in store.
Last 24 hours: Today’s sun activity is low with seven C flares between 11 UTC yesterday and 11 UTC today. That’s in contrast to yesterday’s 15 C flares. The largest event was a C2.3 from active region AR3553 at 12:28 UTC on January 18. This region was the top producer, with three C flares. AR3555 lost its promising beta-gamma magnetic complexity. Today, we see only alpha and beta active regions. So, indeed, we’re in a lull! But our star always has something happening. During the past day, we saw a beautiful prominence lifting plasma into space. The event occurred at around 12:18 UTC on January 18 on the sun’s northeast limb (edge).
The action appears to be on the far side of our star, as we see long-lasting prominences and jet-like explosions on the limb (edge) of the solar north pole and southwest. Meanwhile, the Earth-facing sun has eight labeled active regions today.

Sun news for January 18, 2024: Weird-looking SDO calibrations

Sun news January 18. EarthSky sun post co-author C. Alex Young – a solar astrophysicist at NASA Goddard Spaceflight Center – also produces @thesuntoday.

Today we focus on the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), one of the most important spacecraft observing the sun. As with the past two days, SDO experienced another day of eclipses, with the Earth briefly obscuring its view of our star. But we also saw some strange shifting in the images – up and down, then right and left. This wasn’t a malfunction; these shifts are actually used to calibrate or fine-tune the cameras on the spacecraft. Calibrations like this one are performed regularly to ensure observations remain consistent over time. Let’s hope the newly calibrated instruments capture an increase in solar action in the coming days!
Last 24 hours: Sun activity remains low, with only 15 C flares produced between 11 UTC yesterday and 11 UTC today. However, this was an increase compared to the ten C flares produced the previous day. The largest of all the flares was a C5.4 that sunspot region AR3553 released at 4:08 UTC this morning. This region was the leading producer of the day with six C flares. Meanwhile, AR3555 developed a promising beta-gamma magnetic complexity, indicating a potential for larger flares. The Earth-facing side of the sun today is populated with nine labeled active regions.

Sun news for January 17, 2024: Signs of an active sun. Plus, more Earth eclipses today

Solar maximum is on its way, possibly in 2024, and in the past day the sun has shown multiple signs that it’s reaching its peak activity. These include a lot of active filaments, many active sunspot regions, and instances of coronal rain. And at this writing (11 UTC on January 17), the solar disk is peppered with sunspot regions and active filaments, and the limb (edge) is covered with prominences, many of which are firing out plasma that’s falling back to the surface. One sign of an active sun that we don’t have: we don’t have high levels of flaring. But that can change in an instant! By the way, we’re now in the SDO eclipse season. Every day until February 10, SDO’s view of the sun will be briefly blocked by the Earth. Check out this beautiful spectacle in the images below.
Last 24 hours: Ten C flares were produced between 11 UTC yesterday and 11 UTC today, amounting to low activity. The largest was a C2.7 flare, fired at 7:24 UTC on January 17 by an incoming active region in the northeast. This as-yet-unnumbered region was the lead flare producer of the day, with three C flares since its appearance. The sun currently has ten labeled active regions. Most of these have simple, low-potential alpha or beta magnetic configurations and have remained stable with low activity. The largest in size are AR3549 and AR3545, which can be spotted from the ground without any magnification if you wear the proper eye protection.

Sun news for January 16, 2024: Huge prominence, and more action incoming

Last night we saw a huge prominence erupt from around the solar south pole. This rope of plasma and magnetic fields came from the far side of our star, and measured at least 200 Earths long! The GOES-16 spacecraft observed it at around 22:04 UTC on January 15, and the SOHO spacecraft detected a corresponding coronal mass ejection (CME) at 0:12 UTC this morning. We also saw long-lasting prominences on the east limb, where activity remains strong. This indicates that activity is coming our way from the east, but it has not yet rotated onto the Earth-facing solar disk. Stay tuned.
Last 24 hours: Only seven C flares were produced between 11 UTC yesterday and 11 UTC today, making sun activity low. The largest was a C2.9 flare by sunspot region AR3553 in the northeast at 14:05 UTC on January 15. AR3541 produced the three C flares, the most of the day. The sun currently has eight labeled active regions, including an as-yet-unnumbered newcomer on the northeast limb (edge). As mentioned yesterday, the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) began its eclipse season today at around 7:15 UTC – check out the images below.

Sun news for January 15, 2024: SDO’s eclipse season starts tomorrow

Sun news January 15. Eclipses of the sun by the Earth and moon! The EarthSky sun team produced this video.

It was another calm day on the sun, only interrupted by Earth! Because of the particular orbit of the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) orbit around Earth, sometimes Earth blocks the sun from the spacecraft’s point of view. Solar scientists speak of SDO’s eclipse seasons for the several-week period – twice each year – when these events regularly occur. Those seasons used to come in spring and fall. But they’ve shifted; now they’re coming winter and summer. The next SDO eclipse season starts tomorrow (January 16, 2024) and ends on February 10. During the coming weeks, Earth might block the sun, as seen from SDO, for minutes to just over an hour. Plus, the moon sometimes eclipses the sun as seen from SDO, too. Unlike the moon, Earth has an atmosphere, so when Earth passes between SDO and the sun, we see a fuzzy edge, not a nice sharp edge as during lunar transits. Again, we’re not quite in an official SDO eclipse season today. The regular season starts tomorrow. But Earth did slightly block the sun today as seen from SDO, as shown in the video at top. P.S. The summer eclipse season will be July 15 – August 11, 2024.
Last 24 hours: In terms of flares, sun activity is low. From 11 UTC yesterday to 11 UTC today, we saw 12 C flares. The largest was a C9.6 (nearly an M flare) at 11:30 UTC on January 14, from AR3543. This region is just over the northwestern limb (edge) indicating the flare was partially occulted and so, in reality, was probably at least an M1. The relative calm continues with some average activity, such as coronal rain (discussed yesterday), some small filament eruptions, and minor flares.

Sun news for January 14, 2024: It’s a rainy sun day

Sun news January 14 … rain on the sun! The EarthSky sun team produced this video. Thanks for watching!

Happy sun day! It’s a day of rest for many, and that also goes for the sun. But despite a flaring calm and overall low sun activity, there’s always excitement on our local star. How about rain? Yes, it rains on the sun often, in the form of raining plasma, or super-hot gas. Million-degree-plus plasmas rise from lower down in the solar atmosphere, then cool to a mere 40,000–80,000 degrees. Condensation occurs, high up in the sun’s corona or outer atmosphere. Because the gas is superheated – a plasma – it’s also magnetized. So when it condenses and falls, it follows the magnetic fields extending up from the sun’s visible surface, from sunspots. This all makes the plasma appear to come from nowhere and follow curves (a curved magnetic field line), falling back down to the sun’s lower atmosphere. It happens most often when – as now – the sun is near the peak of its 11-year cycle. Scientists have dubbed this solar plasma condensation process as coronal rain.
Last 24 hours: The Earth-facing area is still covered with 12 sunspot regions. Despite the number of active regions, sun activity due to flaring is still low. The sun produced 11 C flares, the largest being a C4.2 at 00:12 UTC on January 14, 2024, from AR3536. AR3541 produced five of the 11 flares, the most productive region. Regions on the eastern limb (edge) appear to be the source of the coronal rain and should soon be rotating into view. There is quite a show of dynamic processes around the limb, including a large eruption just over the northwestern limb.

Sun news for January 13, 2024: A mighty 12 sunspot regions today

Sun new January 13. A mighty 12 sunspots today, most since June of 2023.

With Solar Max – the peak of the sun’s 11-year cycle – expected this year, even a so-called calm sun has a lot going on. Sun activity is back to low with only C flares during our observation period from 11 UTC yesterday to 11 UTC today. Yet the sun has 12 active regions on its Earth-facing side. This is the highest number of active regions so far this year. We haven’t seen this many active regions on the sun since June 2023, when there were 16 labeled regions. This is just another sign that Solar Max is on its way.
Last 24 hours: Today’s Earth-facing side of the sun may already be speckled with active regions, but more are on the way according to helioseismology. Plus, we can see some dynamic jet and prominence activity from over the eastern limb. Something strong is coming. The sun produced 15 C flares over the past day, with the largest being a C4.8 flare from active region AR3538 at 17:22 UTC on January 12. Given that AR3538 has already rotated mostly out of view, it may have been larger. The lead flare producer was active region AR3539 with three flares. The sun has 12 active regions on its Earth-facing side; four of them are newcomers: AR3548, AR3549, AR3550, and AR3551.

Sun news for January 12, 2024: 4 M flares on the road to Solar Max!

Sun news January 12. The EarthSky sun news team produced this video. Thanks for watching!

Solar Max – the peak of the sun’s 11-year cycle – is expected in 2024. From 11 UTC yesterday to 11 UTC today the sun produced four M flares! Take a look at the breakdown below. Worth mentioning is active region AR3538, producer of two M flares the day before yesterday, and lead flare producer over the past day as well. The sun’s rotation is now carrying it out of view, on the northwest limb. Its departure is making the northwest portion of the sun look fiery! In the meantime, more action seems to be coming our way. The east limb looks very active, too, from just around the corner to the far side, the side we don’t normally see from Earth. As the sun rotates, these regions from the far side will soon come into view. Stay with us for more sun news.
Last 24 hours: Sun activity is now moderate. The sun produced four M flares over the past day. Between 11 UTC yesterday to 11 UTC today, the sun’s flaring production was 20 flares in total: four Ms and 16 Cs. The largest was an M1.4 blasted by departing active region AR3538 at 12:51 UTC on January 11. Each one of the M flares caused an R1 (minor) radio blackout. Here’s a breakdown of the Ms:
1. M1.4 by AR3538 at 12:51 UTC on January 11. R1 (minor) radio blackout over mid-South Atlantic Ocean.
2. M1.5 by AR3539 at 17:52 UTC on January 11, the largest. R1 (minor) radio blackout over South Pacific Ocean off west coast of Chile.
3. M1.2 by AR3538 at 19:23 UTC on January 11. R1 (minor) radio blackout over South Pacific Ocean over Easter Island.
4. M1.1 by AR3547 at 2:58 UTC on January 12. R1 (minor) radio blackout over Australia.
Lead flare producer was active region AR3538, which blasted out seven total flares, the two Ms included. It was closely followed by AR3539, producer of six flares, the largest M of the period included. The sun now has nine labeled active regions on its Earth-facing side. There is a newcomer on the northeast quadrant, now numbered AR3547.

Sun news for January 11, 2024: Moderate with 2 M flares.

The active sun is continuing its diverse action across the disk. The past day saw two M flares, bringing activity to moderate levels. An M1.9 came from AR3538 over the west limb, and an M1.4 came from an as-yet unnumbered source on the southeast limb. Two spectacular filament eruptions came from the east, first with one on the east limb in a spectacular fan and a liftoff from the eastern quadrant.
Last 24 hours: Sun activity is moderate due to two M flares. Between 11 UTC yesterday to 11 UTC today, the sun produced 20 flares: two Ms and 18 Cs. The largest was flare an M1.9 from AR3538 at 23:28 UTC on January 11. The other M flare was an M1.4 at 12:55 UTC, January 10, from an unnumbered active region incoming on the southeast limb (edge). The M flares caused R1 (minor) radio blackouts. The M1.4 radio blackout affected an area over the South Atlantic Ocean, and the M1.9 radio blackout affected an area over French Polynesia in the South Pacific Ocean. AR3539 was the lead flare producer with seven C flares. The sun has nine labeled active regions on its Earth-facing side.

Sun news for January 10, 2024: The calm has ended, activity on the rise

The EarthSky sun news team produced this video. Thanks for watching!

The sun’s calm day is ending. Flare size, flare number, and prominence/ filament activity all have picked up over the past 24 hours. Our top-producing region, AR3538, even blasted out an almost-M flare, a C9.6. A hair below M! The sun has 10 sunspot regions on its Earth-facing side today. And more from the sun’s far side may rotate into view soon. The big flare producer from the beginning of the year, AR3536, has maintained its beta-gamma magnetic complexity. That means it still harbors the potential for M or X flares. These are all more signs that the current solar cycle – Cycle 25 – is reaching its peak, aka Solar Maximum. The excitement should continue. The question remains: how big will the activity get? Stay tuned!
Last 24 hours: Sun activity is low, but just barely. The sun produced 19 C flares over the past day (11 UTC yesterday to 11 UTC today). The largest flare was a C9.6 flare from active region AR3538 at 3:35 UTC on January 10. This almost-M flare was just shy of alert levels, but it did produce a small radio blackout over Australia. This region continues to be the top flare producer, with nine of the 19 flares. The sun currently has 10 numbered active regions on its Earth-facing side. Two of them are newcomers: AR3545 on the southeast limb (edge), close to the solar equator, and AR3546 on the southeast quadrant, east of AR3541.  Only sunspot region AR3536, the X5 flare producer, kept its beta-gamma magnetic complexities, but it’s got the potential for more.

Sun news for January 9, 2024: A calm sun near Solar Max

A calm day on an active sun is wayyyyyy more dynamic than a busy day on a quiet sun! See the images above? Although we’re nearing the peak of the current solar cycle, today’s sun is calm, with no significant flares or eruptions. But just over a week ago, on New Year’s Eve, we saw an X5 flare, the most powerful flare of this solar cycle so far. What gives? While the sun will, on average, be much more active around solar maximum, it still exhibits periods of calm between bursts of activity. The sun’s calm at Solar Max is relative. It’s the calm before a storm. Stay tuned to see what our sun has in store.
Last 24 hours: Sun activity remains low. It produced 16 C flares over the past day (11 UTC yesterday to 11 UTC today). The largest flare was a C5.7 from AR3538 at 15:50 UTC on January 8. This region was also the top flare producer, with 10 of the 16 flares. The sun currently has eight numbered active regions on its Earth-facing side. Two of them, AR3536 and AR3540, kept their beta-gamma magnetic complexities, meaning they have the most potential for powerful flares.

Sun news for January 8, 2024: Final flash from AR3534

It’s a quiet Monday on the sun. The largest flare was a C8.8, from AR3534. The sun’s rotation has now carried AR3534 just over the sun’s western limb (edge). Yet we know this sunspot region still has some oomph left in it, because the C8.8 flare must be a much-larger flare. Why? Because it’s beyond the sun’s visible edge now. So not all of the C8.8 flare was visible to us. It was partially occulted (blocked) by the sun. That’s why the flare appeared so bright in SDO images, but isn’t measured as larger on the GOES flare intensity scale. If we could have seen it directly, we’d have seen at least a small M flare.
Last 24 hours: Overall, sun activity is low. There are many visible sunspot regions now, with more on the way (see yesterday’s post, below). But we’re seeing C flares, with only two of them close to the M range. Over the past day (11 UTC yesterday to 11 UTC today), we have had 17 C flares. The largest flare was a C8.8 from AR3534 at 22:11 UTC on January 7, 2024. Of the nine sunspot groups facing Earth, three of them have beta-gamma magnetic complexity, meaning these regions have the most potential for flaring.

Sun news for January 7, 2024: We can see sunspots from Mars

Sun news for January 7, 2024. Sunspots from Mars! C. Alex Young and Deborah Byrd produced this video.

Here’s something fun. Using the MAST camera on the Mars Perseverance Rover, we can see sunspots on the sun’s far side. Normally, we can’t see the far side (although we do sometimes use helioseismology to learn about big sunspots there). Images from the Mars rover are small. But big-enough sunspot groups on the far side do show up in the Perseverance photos. Mars itself is on the far side of the sun from Earth now. So these solar images from Mars give a unique perspective, one we wouldn’t have otherwise, showing us sunspots we can’t see from Earth right now. Thanks, Perseverance!
Last 24 hours: Sun activity is low, but maybe not for long. Recent flares have been small in size, just B and C flares. But over the past day (11 UTC yesterday to 11 UTC today), there’ve been a lot of flares, 25 in the past 24 hours. That’s partly because there are a lot of sunspots currently facing Earth. And – as shown by the Mars rover Perseverance (see above) – there are a lot of them just around the corner. The largest flare on the near side in the past day was a C7.1 at 15:27 UTC on January 6 from active region AR3538. The region produced 12 of the 25 flares. The sun has seven numbered sunspot regions.

Sun news for January 6, 2024: Our hero of the week, AR3536

Sun news for January 6. The EarthSky sun team produced this video. Thanks for watching!

Sunspot region AR3536, now famous as the producer of the biggest X flare of the solar cycle so far – an X5 blasted on December 31 – is still going. It produced the most flares over the past day, albeit only C flares. And it’s been hurling ejecta into space all week. None has hit Earth so far, but in the coming day or two, this sunspot region will be geoeffectively positioned – capable of affecting Earth – perhaps promising auroral displays. Plus, among today’s six labeled active regions, AR3536 is the only one bearing a beta-gamma configuration, the rest showing only alpha or beta. That means, at any minute, this former X-flare producer might give us a surprise, since its magnetic complexity can yield more Cs, Ms and even another X flare. Keep tuned.
Last 24 hours: Sun activity continues to be low. The sun produced only C flares in the past day. Between 11 UTC yesterday and 11 UTC today, it blasted 11 flares. The largest was a C5.2 at 4:50 UTC on January 6, not from AR3536 as you might expect, but from active region AR3538 in the sun’s northwest. So AR3536 produced five flares, AR3540 (a newcomer) produced four flares, and AR3538 produced two flares during our observation period. The sun currently has six numbered sunspot regions on its Earth-facing side. The two newcomers we mentioned yesterday are now numbered AR3540 and AR3541.

Sun news for January 5, 2024: Sunspot region AR3536 hurling ejecta into space

The amazing active region AR3536 – which, on New Year’s Eve, produced the biggest X flare so far of Solar Cycle 25, plus several M flares after that – has calmed down and has lost some of its magnetic complexity. It spent the past 24 hours hurling ejecta into space. Its plasma ejections finally exploded into a gorgeous prominence at around 1:50 UTC this morning (January 5). These events of the past day are under further analysis and modeling by specialists to determine if there is an Earth-directed coronal mass ejection, or CME.
Last 24 hours: Overall, sun activity is back to low, with only C flares in the past day. Between 11 UTC yesterday and 11 UTC today, the sun produced 17 flares in total. The largest was a C3.7 flare from AR3534 on the sun’s southwest quadrant, which exploded at 8:09 UTC this morning (January 5). The lead flare producer of the period was a newcomer active region – as yet unnumbered – on the sun’s southeast limb (edge). It blasted seven C flares. Three other regions offered three C flares each: AR3536, AR3534, and an unnumbered newcomer on the northeast. The sun currently has four numbered sunspot regions on its Earth-facing side.

Sun news for January 4, 2024: Sunspot region AR3536 is going strong

Today’s sun news video was produced by C. Alex Young, Raúl Cortés and Deborah Byrd. Thanks for watching!

Recent X flare producer AR3536 has maintained its promising flare activity, releasing back-to-back M flares early this morning. The largest of the two, an M3.9 flare, produced a fast jet of plasma and a coronal mass ejection (CME). We await further analysis to see if the CME has an Earth-directed component. AR3536 is currently rotating toward a more geoeffective position, meaning it will soon be in a prime position to send CMEs toward Earth. This, combined with the region’s continued activity, size, and magnetic complexity, means AR3536 still deserves a lot of attention. Why not give it some yourself; wearing the proper eye protection, the region is big enough to be seen from Earth without any magnification!
Last 24 hours: Sun activity remains moderate. Between 11 UTC yesterday and 11 UTC today, the sun produced 17 flares: 15 Cs and two Ms. Both M flares came from AR3536 on January 4. The first was an M1.1 flare at 1:16 UTC, followed by an M3.9 flare at 1:55 UTC. Shortly after each flare, R1 (minor) radio blackouts occurred over the South Pacific Ocean off the Australian northeast coast. Producing seven flares over the past day, AR3536 remains the lead flare producer. It’s also still the largest and most magnetically complex, keeping its beta-gamma configuration. That means it still has a good chance of producing large M flares or even another X flare. The sun currently has four numbered sunspot regions on its Earth-facing side.

Sun news for January 3, 2024: Keeping an eye on sunspot region AR3536

On Monday, January 1, sunspot region AR3536 gave us an X5 flare, the biggest flare of Solar Cycle 25 so far. It has produced only M flares since then, but its history of an X flare and a potent beta gamma magnetic complexity indicates that this region still has the potential for some major action. In fact, forecasters are giving it a 25% chance for another X flare, a 60% chance for an M flare, and even a chance that it will produce solar energetic particles (particles in the sun’s atmosphere accelerated to huge velocities by an eruption). As AR3536 rotates more toward the center of the solar disk, the chances for an Earth-directed coronal mass ejection (CME) also increase, which could mean auroral displays. This sunspot group is a taste of solar maximum: the peak of the roughly 11-year solar cycle, anticipated as early as this year. Interestingly, some of the largest solar storms in history have come after solar maximum, on the downturn of a cycle. The rarity of such large events means that we don’t have a lot of examples, but this observation could mean there is much more action to come. This is all part of the excitement and mystery of “our extraordinary, ordinary star”, to paraphrase Dr. Nicky Fox, NASA’s current head of science. Does AR3536 have any more excitement in store? Stay tuned.
Last 24 hours: Sun activity is moderate. Between 11 UTC yesterday and 11 UTC today, the sun produced 13 flares: 12 Cs and one M1.2. The M flare came from AR3536 at 18:30 UTC on January 2. A corresponding R1 (minor) radio blackout occurred over the South Pacific Ocean off the west coast of South America. The sunspot group of the moment, AR3536, produced 11 of the 13 flares. The region has lost its delta magnetic complexity, but its current beta-gamma configuration and its history still indicate a good chance for large M flares or even another X flare. The sun currently has four numbered sunspot regions on its Earth-facing side. A newcomer, AR3537, has been numbered on the northeast quadrant, north of AR3536.

Sun news for January 2, 2024: Yesterday’s X flare…Aurora alert!

Early yesterday morning, sunspot group AR3536 fired an X5 flare, the biggest flare of Solar Cycle 25 so far. And now, specialists have found that this produced a partial halo coronal mass ejection (CME). It was partial because AR3536 fired the flare from right on the sun’s limb (edge). But despite this off-center location, the CME is expected to glance Earth today. This may cause a G1 (minor) geomagnetic storm, which could mean auroras! Fingers crossed for clear skies.
Last 24 hours: Sun activity is moderate due to an M4.7 flare from AR3536 at 12:25 UTC on January 1. A corresponding R1 (minor) radio blackout occurred over the west coast of South Africa. The sun produced 20 flares between 11 UTC yesterday and 11 UTC today. AR3536, the producer of yesterday’s X flare, fired 14 of the flares. This region has increased in magnetic complexity to a beta-delta-gamma configuration. This is the highest level of magnetic complexity, indicating a good chance for large M flares or even another X flare. This is a significant increase from its previous beta classification, although the region’s position on the solar horizon meant that this beta classification would have been difficult to determine correctly. The sun currently has two numbered sunspot regions on its Earth-facing side, while the limb (edge) of our star shows prominence activity all around.

Sun news for January 1, 2024: X5 flare! Largest of Solar Cycle 25

KABOOM! We’ve got an X5 flare, the strongest flare of Solar Cycle 25 so far! We thought the incoming region on the sun’s east limb (edge) would bring excitement. And, boy, did it deliver. The new region, AR3536, released an X5 flare at 21:55 UTC on December 31, 2023. What an appropriate Happy New Year as we start 2024. The eruption produced an EIT or coronal wave, that rippled across the face of the sun in all directions. It’s indicative of a coronal mass ejection (CME), a great burp of solar material. And initial analysis does show an Earth-directed component, which is expected to arrive midday tomorrow, January 2, 2024. Solar energetic particles are measured, presumably from the X5 event, but they haven’t reached radiation storm levels. AR3536 produced all but one of 17 solar flares of the past day (11 UTC yesterday to 11 UTC today). But the flares are mostly small C flares. Stay tuned.
Last 24 hours: Sun activity is now high, due to yesterday’s X5 flare from AR3536. The flare was released at 21:55 UTC on December 31, 2023. This is the largest flare of the current solar cycle, Cycle 25. It produced an R3 (strong) radio blackout over the Pacific Ocean. The eruption produced a coronal mass ejection (CME) with an Earth-directed component expected to arrive tomorrow, January 1, 2024. A noticeable coronal or EIT wave came from the region, rippling across the face of the sun in all directions. There is a slight increase in solar energetic particles presumably due to the event, but they do not reach radiation storm levels. Region AR3536 produced 16 of 17 flares observed over 24 hours (11 UTC yesterday to 11 UTC today) including the X5 flare and an M1 flare. The sun has four numbered sunspot regions on its Earth-facing side.

The post Sun activity archive for January 2024 first appeared on EarthSky.

When the sun dies

What does death mean for the sun? It means our sun will run out of fuel in its interior. It’ll cease the internal thermonuclear reactions that enable stars to shine. It’ll swell into a red giant, whose outer layers will engulf Mercury and Venus and likely reach the Earth. Life on Earth will end.

If the sun were more massive – estimates vary, but at least several times more massive – it would explode as a supernova. So … no supernova. But what? What happens next? An international team of astronomers used a stellar data-model that predicts the life cycle of stars to answer this question.

Their research was published in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Astronomy and is available to read at arXiv.org. It suggested that the sun is almost exactly the lowest mass star that – at the end of its life – produces a visible, though faint, planetary nebula.

The 2024 lunar calendars are here! Best Christmas gifts in the universe! Check ’em out here.

About planetary nebulae

The name planetary nebula has nothing to do with planets. It describes a massive sphere of luminous gas and dust, material sloughed off an aging star. In the 1780s, William Herschel called these spherical clouds planetary nebulae because, through his early telescope, planetary nebulae looked round, like the planets in our solar system.

Astronomers already knew that 90% of all stars end their active lives as planetary nebulae. They were reasonably sure our sun would meet this fate. The key word here is visible. For years, scientists thought the sun has too low mass to create a visible planetary nebula.

Albert Zijlstra of the University of Manchester in England is a co-author of the study. He said in a statement:

When a star dies it ejects a mass of gas and dust – known as its envelope – into space. The envelope can be as much as half the star’s mass. This reveals the star’s core, which by this point in the star’s life is running out of fuel, eventually turning off and before finally dying.

It is only then the hot core makes the ejected envelope shine brightly for around 10,000 years – a brief period in astronomy. This is what makes the planetary nebula visible. Some are so bright that they can be seen from extremely large distances measuring tens of millions of light-years, where the star itself would have been much too faint to see.

The fate of our sun

Will that be the fate of our sun? Will it – at the end of its life – become briefly visible to alien astronomers on planets millions of light-years away? These astronomers say no. They say their models predict that our sun – though forming a planetary nebula at the end of its life – will remain faint.

Read more about this study from the University of Manchester

By the way … what happens next? Eventually, the planetary nebula will disperse and fade. With its thermonuclear fuel gone, the sun will no longer be able to shine. The immensely high pressures and temperatures in its interior will slacken. The sun will shrink down to become a dying ember of a star, known as a white dwarf, only a little larger than Earth.

Bottom line: A study suggests our sun is about the lowest mass star that – at the end of its life – produces a visible, though faint, planetary nebula. What that is … and more on the fate of our sun, here.

Source: The mysterious cut-off of the Planetary Nebula Luminosity Function

Via University of Manchester

The post When our sun dies, what will happen to Earth? first appeared on EarthSky.

Sun news for December 31, 2023. Excitement! EarthSky’s C. Alex Young produced this video. Thanks for watching!

The large sunspot region from the sun’s far side – which we reported earlier this week – is now rotating into view. And it looks to be an active one! Why do we say this? Over the past 24 hours, there’s been a significant flare increase from the sun’s northeastern limb (edge), where the new region will soon become visible. That includes a C9.7 and C8 solar flare in the early morning hours today (December 31). You might say, but wait, those are still just C flares. What’s the big deal? What’s exciting is that the sun is still partially hiding them from view. So they’re larger than we can see, because not all of the flares’ light is reaching us. Both of these flares are almost certainly M flares. This new region might be one we’ve seen before, AR3514, which produced an X flare two weeks ago on December 14, 2023. An exciting possibility: this new region might kick off the new year with a bang! Stay tuned.
Last 24 hours: Sun activity is considered low today, with C class flares (though a couple are getting close to M-class size). Both of these flares are coming from the as-yet-unnumbered active region just over the limb. The largest flare in the past 24 hours (11 UTC yesterday to 11 UTC today) was the C9.7 at 8:13 UTC on December 31. During the past day the sun produced 19 C flares, with most coming from AR3530 and the new region in the northeast. AR3530 has rotated out of view over the western limb (edge). In addition to the increased flaring, there were two notable filament eruptions in the north and south at 18 UTC, December 30 and 3:30 UTC, December 31 respectively. The sun has three labeled active regions on its Earth-facing side.

Sun news for December 30, 2023: Huge Prominence!

Sun news for December 30, 2023. The EarthSky sun team produced this video. Thanks for watching!

The sun released a huge prominence eruption around the time of this writing, at about 8:30 UTC December 30. It came from an erupting filament near the southeast limb (edge). It quickly expanded into a massive structure longer than 200 Earths lined up, or about 800,000 miles (1.3 million kilometers). That’s long … about as long as the sun is wide. This eruption released a large blob of solar plasma or a coronal mass ejection (CME). We don’t have much imagery of the CME yet, but more than likely it’s not Earth-directed, given the eruption’s location. While current flare activity is low, we may see some significant action in three to four days. There’s a large sunspot that we can see via helioseismology that is making its way to the Earth-facing side of the sun. This region may be the remains of sunspot region AR3514, the recent X flare producer from December 14, 2023. Stay tuned!
Last 24 hours: Sun activity continues at low levels with C class flares. During the past day the sun produced 10 C flares. The largest was a C6.6 flare from active region AR3530 at 20:17 UTC on December 29. AR3530 produced nine of the ten flares during our observation period from 11 UTC yesterday to 11 UTC today. The sun has five labeled active regions on its Earth-facing side.

Sun news for December 29, 2023: Parker Solar Probe touches the sun, again

Early this morning, Parker Solar Probe reached perihelion – its closest point to the sun in orbit – for the 18th time since its launch in 2018. The first spacecraft to touch the sun is now approximately 5 million miles (8 million km) from our star. And it’s going to get closer. After a flyby of Venus in late 2024, its 22nd to its final (26th) perihelions will be its closest yet, each at around 4.3 million miles (6.9 million km) from the sun’s surface. Amazing! By the way, Parker Solar Probe travels at a speed of 371 thousand miles per hour (597 thousand kph).
Last 24 hours: The sun welcomed Parker Solar Probe with a pick-up in the action. Although activity is still classed as low, we saw 15 C flares between 11 UTC yesterday and 11 UTC today, in contrast to just two the day before. We also saw an almost-M flare, with today’s most active region AR3533 firing a C9.8 flare at 7:55 UTC this morning. The effects of the flare on Earth did not reach the R1 (minor) radio blackout level, but some blackout effects occurred in the South Indian Ocean off the east coast of Madagascar. We expect that further increases in activity are on their way, as larger active regions now on the sun’s far side are approaching the eastern horizon. For now, the sun has six active regions visible from Earth.

Sun news for December 28, 2023: Our star shows its magnetic magic

The sun is about 330,000 times more massive than Earth. As the pull of gravity is directly related to an object’s mass, the sun’s gravity is immense – strong enough to hold in orbit the solar system’s planets and moons, millions of rocky asteroids, and an untold number of icy comets. Yet at 8 UTC this morning, a wisp of plasma seemed to defy the sun’s mighty pull, floating serenely above our star’s surface. How? What gave the wisp enough oomph to fight against the sun’s gravity? The answer is magnetism. Magnetic fields of varying strength cover the sun and provide most of its activity. And in this case, these invisible magnetic fields levitated the blob of sun-stuff from lower down in the solar atmosphere to high up in the corona. So … not magic, just magnetism! Often, especially nearing Solar Maximum (which is coming as early as 2024), these magnetic fields have enough energy in them to launch that plasma into space. That would be what’s known as a filament eruption with a coronal mass ejection (CME).
Last 24 hours: Sun activity is low. Only two C flares were produced between 11 UTC yesterday and 11 UTC today. Both events came from a newcomer sunspot group, AR3534. The largest event was a C1.9 flare at 19:41 UTC on December 27. AR3534 has been the only active region flaring in the past couple of days, and it will likely dissipate before reaching the southwest limb. AR3551 remains the largest active region on the solar disk, but has stayed quiet over the past day. AR3529 is about to depart over the southwest limb (edge). But action is on its way to the Earth-facing side of our sun; larger active regions now on the sun’s far side are approaching the eastern horizon. For now, the sun has six active regions visible from Earth.

Sun news for December 27, 2023: The sun takes a power nap

It’s been a quiet day on the sun. In the past 24 hours, there were a few C flares and even a smaller B flare. Even the prolific jet-producing regions and filament eruptions are mostly gone. We have some beautiful prominences waiting on the limbs and a bit of jet activity. And, as always, we anticipate more to come. A few days from now, a new coronal hole will rotate into a prime spot for spraying Earth with fast solar wind, hopefully provoking auroral displays. On the far side of the sun, that large sunspot group we talked about a few days ago is now less than a week away. A few new sunspot regions are about to get their designations. So it’s been a day of calm solar seas. But the potential for some serious action is looming!
Last 24 hours: Sun activity continued at low levels during the past day. The sun produced five C flares and a B flare between 11 UTC yesterday and 11 UTC today. The largest event was a C2.3 flare at 11:08 UTC on December 26 from active region AR3526. There’s an unlabeled newcomer in the southeast. The lead flare producer was an as-yet-unnumbered incoming active region located on the southeast limb (edge) with three flares. The sun now has six active regions on its Earth-facing side.

Sun news for December 26, 2023: Solar Max is on its way

For the past 24 hours, the sun has been relatively calm. But Solar Max is on its way, now expected in 2024. Forecasters were predicting 2025 for the peak of the current 11-year sun cycle, Cycle 25. But the current cycle has already outpaced predictions, both in sunspot number and in the number of larger M and X flares. So the past day has been C flares only. But remember the 3 M flares of the day before? And the X flare before that? We’re seeing exactly what’s expected as we approach Solar Max: periods of moderate-to-high activity followed by some lulls. Now the lulls are coming less often. And the moderate-to-high periods are happening more often and with greater intensity. It’s the speed at which this is happening—stronger activity, shorter lulls—that points to a peak in 2024. Also … the past day’s lull in flaring doesn’t mean a lull in all sun activity. Though we’ve observed only C flares in the past day, we’ve also seen lots of solar jets on the disk and both limbs (edges) of the sun. And there’s a large amount of filament and prominence action, including a solid prominence eruption from the sun’s northeast limb. So don’t let the seeming calm fool you—Solar Max is on its way!
Last 24 hours: Sun activity is back to low levels during the past day. Only  11 C flares were produced between 11 UTC yesterday and 11 UTC today. The largest event was a C4.5 flare at 5:01 UTC on December 26 by an unlabeled newcomer on the southwest.  Active region AR3529 produced four flares in the past 24 hours. The sun has seven active regions on its Earth-facing side.

Sun news for December 25, 2023: Flare and filament fun

The sun kicked it up a notch over the past 24 hours, to give us a fun day of flares and filaments together. Starting at the beginning of the observation period (11 UTC December 24), sunspot group AR3529 released an M2.9 flare. It was followed a few hours later with an M2.6. Almost simultaneous to the M2.9 flare a huge filament north of the M2.9 flare lifted off the sun. Another filament erupted from the eastern limb also nearly simultaneously to the M2.6 flare on the other side of the sun. These filament and flares while nearly simultaneous were coincidental. The M1.1 also had a filament eruption around the same time. But these two events were at the same location, so, in this case, they were related to each other. There were several other smaller, more subtle filament eruptions. Let’s see if the sun has more excitement for us in the coming day!
Last 24 hours: Sun activity reached moderate levels with three M flares. The largest event was an M2.9 at 11:09 TUC on December 24 from AR3529. The region produced an M2.6 at 16:37 UTC. A smaller M1.1 flare came from the southeast limb at 19:21 UTC. All three flares produced radio blackouts over South Africa, South America, and the South Pacific respectfully. The sun has seven active regions on its Earth-facing side.

Sun news for December 24, 2023: Something big this way comes

The title is a bit of word play from a famous Ray Bradbury story. A big group of sunspots may be on its way! When lots of magnetic fields collect in a small area near the sun’s visible surface, we get a sunspot. And wherever they are on the sun, in our view or not, they create disturbances inside the sun that bounce around. These disturbances can be seen as ripples (waves) in the light coming from the sun that are seen from Earth, even when the ripples originate from the far side. That’s exactly what is happening today. There’s a large magnetic field concentration on the other side of the sun, directly opposite the Earth-facing side. Using a technique akin to seismology on Earth – called helioseismology (“sun” seismology) – allows us to see this large sunspot group. This region could decay before it reaches us, but – given its size – there’s a good chance it’ll survive to greet us soon, in about a week.
Last 24 hours: Sun activity on the near side is low, with 13 C flares between 11 UTC yesterday and 11 UTC today, and no flaring and no big eruptions. The biggest flare was a C3.8 from sunspot region AR3529 at 8:06 UTC on December 24. The sun has eight active regions on its Earth-facing side.

Sun news for December 23, 2023: Filament story

Sun news for December 22, 2023. EarthSky’s sun team author C. Alex Young also produces @thesuntoday.

Check out the filament eruption near the center of the sun’s disk. We often see the most spectacular filament eruptions at the limb (edge). When the cold, dark background of space is behind them, dark filaments appear as brighter loop-like structures, which we call prominences. But when filaments are on the disk, they can appear dark. Like sunspots, they’re typically cooler than the surrounding solar plasma. So filaments can be hard to see, depending on the wavelength of light observed. If we look at it with H-alpha, like in the image from Mario Rana from December 22, the filament is barely visible. Looking at it in the 193-angstrom wavelength of SDO or SUVI, the filament is much darker in contrast to the rest of the sun. In today’s sun news video, using the 193-angstrom images, we can see the faint filament and then watch it erupt into space!
Last 24 hours: Sun activity levels are back to low, with only seven C flares between 11 UTC yesterday and 11 UTC today. The largest flare was a C3.1 from active sunspot region AR3530 at 9:14 UTC on December 23. Activity was spread between AR3519, AR3526, AR3528 and AR3530. The sun has nine active regions on its Earth-facing side. Two are newcomers, AR3532 on the southwest and AR3533 on the northeast.

Sun news for December 22, 2023: Solstice solar jet party!

Sun news for December 22, 2023. Solar jet party! EarthSky’s sun team – C. Alex Young and Raul Cortes produced this video. EarthSky’s Deborah Byrd hosted it.

Happy December Solstice! To celebrate, the sun is having a solar jet party. Solar jets are tiny, narrow explosions of solar material that may help to explain some of the biggest mysteries of the sun. They might be a source of energetic particles and disturbances in the solar wind. There are lots of notable ones on the sun today, with great examples coming from AR3519, AR3529, and just north of AR3521. You can learn more about solar jets and search for them yourself as part of the Solar Jet Hunter citizen science project.
Last 24 hours: Sun activity is moderate after an isolated M3.3 flare from AR3519 at 0:04 UTC on December 22. This caused an R1 (minor) radio blackout affecting an area over New Caledonia in the South Pacific Ocean. Between 11 UTC yesterday and 11 UTC today, the sun produced 17 flares: the M3.3 flare plus 16 Cs. The lead flare producer was sunspot group AR3519 with 10 Cs and the M flare.

Sun news for December 21, 2023: Bam! Filament eruption with M4 flare

Bam! A filament running from the south to the west of AR3519 erupted earlier today. This was followed by an M4.2 flare from AR3519. The event is under analysis to determine if it produced a coronal mass ejection (CME) that could be heading our way. The powerful M flare has brought the current sun activity level to moderate, just shy of high (reached when we see an M5 flare or higher). AR3519 is about to rotate out of view, but the solar disk is peppered with many more sunspot regions; the sun is really showing what it means to be near solar maximum, expected as early as 2024.
Last 24 hours: Sun activity is moderate after the production of an M4.2 flare by AR3519 at 5:38 UTC on December 21. Shortly after the flare, an R1 (minor) radio blackout affected an area over the South Indian Ocean off the west coast of Australia. Alongside the M flare, the sun produced 16 C flares between 11 UTC yesterday and 11 UTC today. The lead flare producer was AR3529 with six C flares. This is also the largest active region currently on the Earth-facing side of the sun, comprising of 22 individual sunspots on an overall area of more than three Earth surface areas. If you wear the proper eye protection, the region is visible with the unaided eye. The sun currently has nine active regions in view, including a newcomer on the northeast limb (edge) labeled AR3531.

Sun news for December 20, 2023: Huge sunspot group growing fast

Sunspot region AR3529 has caught our eye. It emerged quickly over the last few days, growing in size and complexity. And it almost doubled in size over the past 24 hours, with its surface area now equivalent to that of three Earths! It’s also developed a fairly high gamma magnetic complexity (the more magnetically complex an active region is, the greater its chance of producing powerful flares). The video above shows the sunspot group in visible light and extreme ultraviolet light, which helps to show its growth in size and activity. It also helps to illustrate the definition of an active region; it’s not a sunspot, but a group of interacting sunspots, and it includes the loop structure that extends from the lower atmosphere (the solar photosphere, or visible surface) to the sun’s upper atmosphere (its mysterious corona).
Last 24 hours: Sun activity remains low. The sun produced a total of 17 C flares between 11 UTC yesterday and 11 UTC today, the largest event a C8.3 from AR3521 at 8:54 UTC this morning. With four other flares above a C7 level, sun activity isn’t far from moderate. The lead flare producer of the period was AR3521 with six C flares. The sun currently has nine labeled active regions on its Earth-facing side. There is a newcomer on the northeast limb (edge), AR3530.

Sun news for December 19, 2023: More beautiful auroras as storming comes to an end

After another night of mesmerising auroral displays during a G1 (minor) geomagnetic storm, action at Earth has finally calmed. This fantastic show came after a period of crazy activity on the sun. As the effects of several coronal mass ejections (CMEs) and fast solar wind fade, more action seems to be on the way; let’s see what our star next has in store for us.
Last 24 hours: Sun activity is back to low, but action seems to be picking up. With prominences adorning the limbs (edges) of our star, fresh sunspot groups seem to be just out of view. In fact, incoming sunspots have been observed with helioseismology over the horizon on the eastern limb, soon to rotate into view. Between 11 UTC yesterday and 11 UTC today, 12 C flares were fired. The largest was a C7.4 flare, fired at 3:04 UTC on December 19 by sunspot group AR3528. This active region was the lead flare producer of the period with five Cs. AR3520 was close behind with four C flares. The sun currently has nine labeled active regions on its Earth-facing side, including three newcomers: AR3527 in the west, AR3528 close to the central meridian in the northeast, and AR3529 in the southeast.

Sun news for December 18, 2023: Night #2 for great auroras!

It’s been two fabulous night of auroras! At the time of this writing (11 UTC on Monday, December 18), Earth is experiencing yet more geomagnetic storming, due to coronal mass ejections (CMEs) and high speed solar wind from a coronal hole. The storming is at G2 (moderate) levels at this time. Aurora reports were arguably fewer Sunday night (December 17-18) than Saturday night (December 16-17). But both nights were grand! And we might see auroral activity later today. Stay tuned!
Last 24 hours: Sun activity due to flares is moderate with one M1.1 flares and 12 C flares observed. The largest event was an M1.1 flare from sunspot region AR3520 at 20:08 UTC December 17. AR3520 produced five flares including the M1.1. There is significant activity beyond the west limb (edge), most likely due to AR3514 acting up. Several eruptions are visible from this area in 304-angstrom light from SDO and GOES-16. The Earth-facing side of the sun currently has six active regions.

Sun news for December 17, 2023: Auroras! And more coming …

We’ve got auroras! One or more of the anticipated coronal mass ejections (CMEs) from December 14 and 15 may have reached Earth. At the time of this writing (11 UTC on Sunday, December 17), we are experiencing a G1 (minor) geomagnetic storm and we are starting to see some aurora reports. The reports are mostly from Canada and Alaska. Over the next day we will wait to see if there are any signs of additional CME impacts and resulting geomagnetic storming and auroras. Stay tuned!
Last 24 hours: Sun activity due to flares is low with 16 C-class flares observed. The largest event was a back-to-back set of flares from sunspot region AR3514, a C8.4 and C8.1 at 13:19 and 14:12 UTC respectively. AR3514 produced most of the flares at 14 of 16. It has almost completely rotated out of view over the west limb. It has decayed, losing its delta region, but this sunspot group still has the potential for some significant flaring. The Earth-facing side of the sun currently has nine active regions.

We're on!
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Northeast of Strathmore Alberta #Aurora #Auroraborealis #northernlights pic.twitter.com/yWaGfITCld

— Harlan Thomas (@theauroraguy) December 17, 2023

Woohoo! She’s dancing in Central Alberta now. #TeamTanner #Aurora @TamithaSkov @chunder10 @scottrockphoto @PeakToSailPhoto @hillsblockview pic.twitter.com/6ad856jUaC

— Dar Tanner (@dartanner) December 17, 2023

The aurora in Alaska went nuts tonight, wow! pic.twitter.com/1L5GSLvEqB

— Vincent Ledvina (@Vincent_Ledvina) December 17, 2023

Decent aurora potential now if you’re in Alaska or Siberia… Europe get ready for a potential mid-latitude aurora breakout, although we need to monitor activity over the next several hours. Nice substorm in GOES Mag, AE is healthy… pic.twitter.com/lPrBrtqrVR

— Vincent Ledvina (@Vincent_Ledvina) December 17, 2023

Sun news for December 16, 2023: A cascade of CMEs coming. Aurora alert!

Today’s sun news, with EarthSky’s Deborah Byrd, our founder and Editor-in-Chief.

Big alert for aurora chasers! A cascade of coronal mass ejections (CMEs) is headed toward Earth. You might recall the biggest X flare  of Solar Cycle 25 so far – produced by active region AR3514 – earlier this week, on December 14. This region also produced three M flares. And, after modeling and analysis, the CMEs from all these events were found to be coming our way. They’ll reach Earth with a glancing blow by mid-to-late today (December 16), bringing conditions for  G1 (minor) geomagnetic storming. Please note! There is no danger to us on Earth! But we can expect beautiful auroral displays at high to mid-latitudes. A G2 (moderate) geomagnetic storm could occur tomorrow morning early (possibly during the day for the Americas). So bring out your cameras and polish your lenses. Auroras are coming.
Last 24 hours: Over the past day, sun activity has gone back to low-level flaring. The sun produced only C flares during the 24-hour period (11 UTC yesterday to 11 UTC today). Our hero of this week, active region AR3514, was the lead flare producer of the past day, once again producing almost all the flares. It blasted 14 out of the 15 flares of the day. And it produced the largest explosion of the past day, a C5.5, at 21:29 UTC on December 15. This region is heading to the far side of our sun, carried by the sun’s rotation and is close to the solar horizon now on the southwest. It has the potential for more C, M and X flares. But it will soon be lost behind the solar horizon. Farewell AR3514! Shall we meet again? The sun currently bears seven labeled active regions, in all. There’s a promising newcomer on the Earth-viewed solar disk now, by the way. It’s labeled AR3521, and you’ll find it on the sun’s northeast limb, the part of the sun just now coming into view.

Sun news, for December 15, 2023: BAM! Biggest X flare in years!

An update on the X flare, with EarthSky’s Deborah Byrd, our founder and Editor-in-Chief.

Wow! Sunspot region AR3514 just released an X flare – the biggest of all the flares on the scale. And it wasn’t just an X flare. At X2.8, it was the most powerful flare we’ve seen since 2017. It was blasted at 16:47 UTC (10:47 a.m. CST) on December 14, and it came from the same region that released a very strong M flare earlier yesterday. The X flare caused an R3 (strong) radio blackout over the Americas, with NOAA calling it ‘likely one of the largest solar radio events ever recorded’. The flare might have sent a coronal mass ejection, or CME, our way. We’ll have to wait and see what the space weather forecasters have to say. If it is coming our way, we could see some amazing auroral displays!
Last 24 hours: Solar activity is high after the X2.8 flare. Its producer, AR3514, didn’t stop there; it blasted 3 more M flares, as well as 11 C flares. That’s 15 out of the 16 total flares produced by the sun between 11 UTC yesterday and 11 UTC today. So it’s pretty clear who our lead flare producer was! Here’s a breakdown of AR3514’s biggest events:
M2.3 flare at 13:48 UTC on December 14, causing an R1 (minor) radio blackout over the east coast of Brazil.
X2.8 flare at 17:02 UTC on December 14, causing an R3 (strong) radio blackout over the west coast of Chile.
M6.3 flare at 7:15 UTC on December 15, causing an R1 (minor) radio blackout over the South Indian Ocean.
M6.9 flare at 7:34 UTC on December 15, causing another R1 (minor) radio blackout over the South Indian Ocean.
This sunspot is now showing a beta-delta magnetic complexity, which indicates a good potential for more M and X flares. While you might expect it to be a huge sunspot, it’s actually one of the smallest of the sun’s eight currently labeled regions. Small but mighty! Two more regions arrived and were labeled today: meet AR3518 and AR3519.

Sun news, earlier on December 14, 2023: High activity and a beautiful prominence

After a quiet couple of days, the sun has woken up! Sun activity is considered high now due to an M5.8 flare, which is edging up there toward an X flare. The blast occurred at 7:44 UTC this morning (December 14). Sunspot region AR3514 produced it. And in the southwest, we saw a gorgeous rope of solar material billowing out from beyond the solar horizon. It likely formed following an almost-M flare from sunspot region AR3511, which is keeping up its prolific activity even now that it has rotated out of view.
Last 24 hours: Solar activity is high, due to the M5.8 flare blasted by sunspot region AR3514. Shortly after the flare, at Earth, a momentary R2 (moderate) radio blackout was registered affecting an area on the South Indian Ocean over Port Louis Mauritius. The sun produced 12 flares between 11 UTC yesterday and 11 UTC today: the above-mentioned M plus 11 Cs. The leading flare producer of the period was sunspot region AR3514, which produced seven flares, including the M. The sun bears today six labeled active regions on its Earth-viewed side.

Sun news for December 13, 2023: A quiet day on our star

Zzzzz … it’s been a quiet day on our star. Only C flares were produced over the past day, and – with most of the visible sunspots remaining stable or decaying – NOAA’s spaceweather forecasters have significantly lowered the likelihood of C, M, and X flares over the next few days. Our view of the sun from the SDO spacecraft was partially blocked by the moon earlier today (see below), and with activity so low it seems we didn’t miss much!
Last 24 hours: Solar activity remains low. The only action of note came in the southeast, where a fiery prominence appeared over the horizon, and an exploding filament fired out some plasma. Between 11 UTC yesterday and 11 UTC today, we observed 12 C flares and two Bs. The largest was a C8.3, blasted at 13:42 UTC by an as-yet-unlabeled newcomer sunspot group on the northwest limb (edge). The lead flare producer was AR3513 with four C flares. And, even though we said goodbye to it yesterday, the ever-prolific AR3511 blasted three faint C flares from beyond the solar horizon – it just doesn’t want to leave! And, speaking of goodbyes, we’ve seen our last of yesterday’s diving comet. It hasn’t come out on the other side of the sun, so it clearly didn’t survive its close encounter with our star. The large coronal hole we’ve been watching is showing signs of decay, but two new coronal holes have just emerged – check them out below. The sun currently bears six labeled active regions, including a newcomer on the northeast limb (edge) now numbered AR3518.

Sun news for December 12, 2023: Watch a comet plunge toward the sun

Check out these images of a comet diving towards the sun! We first reported on the comet yesterday, and as it continued its trip towards our star it became visible in the SOHO spacecraft’s LASCO C2 imager. Doesn’t it look gorgeous? It has since disappeared behind LASCO C2’s occulter – a disk that blocks out the bright center of the sun – and that’s probably the last we’ll see of it. While we’ll keep watching to see if it survives the encounter, it will in all likelihood vaporize as it gets closer to the sun. What a way to go!
Last 24 hours: Sun activity is back to low, with 15 C flares and one B. Today we saw the last flare from prolific sunspot region AR3511 before it rotated out of view on the southwest limb (edge). But it stayed productive until the end, firing eight of today’s 16 flares to spend yet another day as the leading flare producer. Farewell, AR3511! Our attention now turns to its potential successor, AR3514. This region produced the second-most flares over the past day, including the day’s largest: a C9.0, blasted at 3:38 UTC this morning. Plus, it is now located at a geoeffective position, meaning that any sun-stuff it fires into space will head straight towards Earth’s magnetic field. Speaking of, we saw an eruption of solar material elsewhere on the sun this morning. After a big filament explosion on the southwest quadrant, plasma started lifting out of the sun’s atmosphere at around 8:09 UTC. This soared into space as a coronal mass ejection (CME). We will wait to see what the specialists say about whether this blast could make its way to Earth. There are currently five active regions on the sun’s Earth-facing side.

Sun news for December 11, 2023: Check out these 2 prominences!

Sun activity continues at moderate levels. More about that below. And great prominences – huge ropes of solar material and magnetic fields, many times Earth’s diameter – could be seen over the past day, in all directions around the sun’s visible edge, north, south, east and west. Then this morning (8:53 UTC on December 11), the sun released two prominences simultaneously, one at the solar north pole and the other at the solar south pole. You can see them in the video above, or in the image below. It looked as if our star decided to fling two arms open simultaneously into space. Lovely …
Last 24 hours: Sun activity is still moderate , thanks to an M1.4 flare from sunspot region AR3511. It happened at 22:43 UTC on December 10. The blast created conditions on Earth for an R1 (minor) radio blackout over an empty patch of ocean in the South Pacific. Over the past day (11 UTC yesterday to 11 UTC today), we saw 21 flares in total, 20 Cs and one M. Lead flare producer was guess who? Yes! Active region AR3511 blasted 12 flares out of the total 21 flares of the period, the M included. AR3511 has put on a great show in recent days. But it’s now nearly gone, headed behind the sun’s west limb, about to be carried out of view by the sun’s rotation. The sun currently has seven active regions on its Earth-facing side.

Sun news for December 10, 2023: Before it departs, AR3511 blasts 2 more M flares

Today’s top news: Sun activity is back to moderate with two more M flares from sunspot region AR3511. Moderate today with two M flares? But high yesterday with just one? Yes. The reason is that the M flares of the past day weren’t as strong. The first was an M1.0 flare (blasted at 13:19 UTC on December 9). And the second was an M2.4 flare produced this morning (3:53 UTC on December 10). Meanwhile, the earlier M flare from AR3511 was a big one! It registered M5.4, close to the X flare level, which is the strongest category of solar flare. You can read about it below. It pumped solar activity overall up to high yesterday. All in all, this sunspot region has remained active. But AR3511 is now located very close to the sun’s southwest limb (edge). The sun’s rotation will carry it out of view in the next couple of days. Will it explode an X flare before departing?
Last 24 hours: Sun activity is now considered moderate, due to AR3511’s two M flares. But sun flaring activity, overall, slightly reduced over the past day (11 UTC yesterday to 11 UTC today). We’ve had recent days of more than 20 flares per day. This past day, the sun exploded just 16 flares in total, two Ms and 14 Cs. AR3511 once again leads flaring production with 11 flares in total, two Ms and 11 Cs. Its two Ms produced corresponding R1 (minor) radio blackouts. The first one affected an area over the South Atlantic Ocean off the east coast of Brazil, and the second was registered affecting the west coast of Australia. The sun currently has seven active regions on its Earth-facing side.

Sun news for December 9, 2023: Big M flare from AR3511

EarthSky sun news author Dr. C. Alex Young also produces @thesuntoday.

Sun activity has jumped to high over the past day, thanks to an M5.4 flare blasted out by sunspot region AR3511. The blast happened late in the day yesterday (23:07 UTC on December 8). It caused a temporary R2 (moderate) radio blackout over French Polynesia, which is a collection of more than 100 islands in the South Pacific. This sunspot region, AR3511, emerged on the Earth-facing side of the sun around December 4, 2023, amid a group of spots. As the sun has rotated, we’ve watched it move across the sun’s visible face. And – since December 3 – it has gotten increasingly active and has become very active over the past day. Will a coronal mass ejection (CME) from the M5.4 flare strike Earth and bring us beautiful auroras? Nope. When the M5.4 flare occurred, the sunspot was already too far west on the sun to be capable of affecting Earth. At present, no CMEs are headed Earth’s way.
Last 24 hours: Sun activity is now considered high, due to the M5.4 flare from AR3511. It produced the greatest number of flares during the past day (11 UTC yesterday to 11 UTC today), along with another active region, AR3513. A second M flare reinforced the high sun activity level. It was thanks to AR 3511 again, blasting out an M1.5 flare at 9:55 UTC on December 9. A corresponding R1 (minor) radio blackout affected the southwest area of the African continent over Zimbabwe and Mozambique. In all, AR3513 sparked seven C flares. Total flaring production during the past day was 23 flares: two Ms and 21 Cs. Otherwise, fiery activity continued over the past day on the northwest limb via prominences provoked by flares on the far side of our sun. Several filament eruptions occurred during the day on the Earth-viewed side of our sun. The most recent was a  filament eruption on the southeast quadrant at 7:20 UTC on December 9, which lifted plasma and hurled a huge prominence into space. None of the filament eruptions during the period have a coronal mass ejection (CME) component heading our way. A new, large coronal hole is forming on the southeast quadrant. This may start sending its fast solar wind as soon as it moves into a geoeffective position. The sun currently has eight active regions on its Earth-facing side.

Sun news for December 8, 2023: More prominence and filament fun

EarthSky sun news author Dr. C. Alex Young also produces @thesuntoday.

The filament eruptions keep on coming. A massive prominence (a filament that hangs over the sun’s edge from our perspective) lifted off the southwest limb at around 17 UTC on December 7. This huge rope of plasma and magnetic fields carried billions of tons of solar material out into space at millions of miles an hour. The scale of this structure is truly breathtaking when compared to Earth, as you can see in image below. Just like yesterday’s eruption, it extended to a length comparable to that of the sun’s diameter (about 865,000 mi or 1.4 million km) before flying off into space. Another filament from the northwest lifted plasma from the sun’s lower atmosphere, the chromosphere, into the upper atmosphere, the corona, between 23:48 UTC and 4:30 UTC overnight. Both eruptions created coronal mass ejections (CMEs) that were imaged by the SOHO spacecraft, and we await analysis from space weather specialists to determine if either could be heading toward Earth, although this is unlikely. Just before those two eruptions, the the spacecraft’s telescopes observed a lopsided halo CME, but given that no source was spotted on the Earth-facing disk, it was determined to be have been fired from the sun’s reverse side.

Sun news for December 7, 2023: Prominent prominences and filaments

EarthSky sun news author Dr. C. Alex Young also produces @thesuntoday.

Today is a day for filaments and prominences – that is, huge ropes of solar material and magnetic fields extending from the sun’s surface. Several very large and active ones erupted in the north, east and west. Most notably, a huge one erupted off the east limb (edge), before an even bigger one followed in the north. These structures are unimaginably big; the one in the north extends to a length of at least 1.4 million kilometers (800,000 miles). That is about the diameter of the sun itself! And both consist of billions of tons of solar plasma, threaded with the sun’s magnetic fields. When prominence eruptions show a twisting motion, as you can see in the video above, that’s the magnetic field of the structure unraveling like an uncoiling rope and releasing its built-up energy. You might also notice a bowl-like structure supported by a dark string that extends down to the sun. See the image below. Conspiracy theorists love to describe this as a spaceship being fueled by the sun. But it’s a known structure – called a coronal cavity – that sits up in the outer layer of the sun’s atmosphere, the corona, over a filament or prominence. So, while a thrilling idea, it is not a spaceship!
Last 24 hours: An isolated M flare has kept sun activity at moderate. Between 11 UTC yesterday and 11 UTC today, we observed 15 flares. AR3513, yesterday’s most active region, kept up its activity, producing the largest flare of the period: an M2.3 at 21:44 UTC on December 6. On top of that, it fired off eleven C flares. It produced a corresponding R1 (minor) radio blackout affecting an area in the South Pacific Ocean over French Polynesia. The sun has eight active regions on its Earth-facing side, including a newcomer on the northwest limb (edge) now labeled AR3514.

Sun news for December 6, 2023: Small new region brings big action

EarthSky sun news author Dr. C. Alex Young also produces @thesuntoday.

Yesterday’s sun news posed the question: is the sun waking up? According to new active region, AR3513, it most certainly is! The region has produced 21 of today’s 25 flares including three M flares. It has also been spraying small concentrated jets of solar stuff to space. It is not a large region but sometimes big things come in small packages. The question now is: will this region continue its action and send anything big our way? The rest of the sun isn’t staying quiet either. We have seen several active filaments, including a large eruption near the north pole and one at disk center. It’s too early to tell, but the one at disk center may have sent a coronal mass ejection (CME) our way. Stay tuned for more sun news.
Last 24 hours: Sun activity is at a moderate level with the production of three M flares. Each M flare produced a corresponding R1 (minor) radio blackout. The breakdown of M flares is:
– M1.0 by AR3513 at 21:10 UTC on December 5. R1 radio blackout over the South Pacific Ocean.
– M1.4 by AR3513 at 21:20 UTC on December 5. R1 radio blackout over the South Pacific Ocean.
– M2.1 by AR3513 at 5:31 UTC on December 6. R1 radio blackout over South Indian Ocean.
The largest event of the period was the M2.1 flare. The total flare production was 25 flares: 22 Cs and three M flares. The lead flare producer of the period was newcomer active region AR3513 with 21 flares, including the three M flares. The sun has seven active regions on its Earth-facing side.

Sun news for December 5, 2023: Action on the edges

EarthSky sun news author Dr. C. Alex Young also produces @thesuntoday.

Is the sun waking up? We’ve been waiting in the past couple of days for a large coronal hole – which has been spraying solar wind in our direction – to light up Earth’s magnetic field, giving us great auroras. Looks like the action expected last night didn’t pan out. Meanwhile – flare-wise – the sun itself has been relatively quiet. That might be about to change. We see a lot of activity on the sun’s edges now. In the past day, there’ve been several large eruptions on the west (receding) limb or edge. This area will soon rotate completely out of view. But, a new region (not yet labeled) on the sun’s northeast (arriving) limb has been popping off flares and jets for the last 24 hours. It produced a moderate sized, M1.6 flare, a few hours ago as of this writing (11 UTC on December 5). As it rotates fully into view, will it pump up the action, overall, on the sun? Stay tuned!
Last 24 hours: Sun activity is now considered moderate, due to the isolated M1.6 flare from the as-yet-unlabeled region on the sun’s northeast limb. This flare, which happened just a few hours ago, at 6:39 UTC on December 5 – was the largest event of our observing period (11 UTC yesterday to 11 UTC today). It caused an R1 (minor) radio blackout that affected an area over the middle of the South Indian Ocean. The sun’s total flare production of the past day was 16 flares: 15 Cs and the one M flare. The incoming region on the northeast limb (edge) was the lead flare producer of the day with eight flares. So, the sun has seven active regions on its Earth-facing side. There is also a newcomer that has emerged, now labeled AR3512.

Sun news for December 4, 2023: Waiting on the solar wind!

EarthSky sun activity author Dr. C. Alex Young also produces @thesuntoday.

Aurora watchers, get ready. A solar wind stream is on its way to Earth. The giant coronal hole continues to spew out lots of fast solar wind in Earth’s direction. The speed of the solar wind at Earth has started to increase, slowly, but as of this writing (11 UTC on December 4) the full stream of solar stuff is not yet blasting Earth’s magnetic field. The stream is expected to reach us by midday UTC today (December 4). It’s expected to cause a G2 (moderate) geomagnetic storm. The rush of solar particles should continue into tomorrow (December 5) with slightly calmer storms at the G1 (minor) level. So – in the words of legendary Jim Morrison of The Doors – we are waiting for the sun. Musical accompaniment below.
Last 24 hours: Sun activity is low with 15 C flares over the observation period (11 UTC yesterday to 11 UTC today). In sun news, the large event was a C8.1 flare from AR3511 at 1:22 UTC December 4. AR3500 produced the most flares during the period at three flares. The sun has eight active regions on its Earth-facing side.

Sun news for December 3, 2023: Giant coronal hole spraying Earth!

EarthSky sun activity author Dr. C. Alex Young also produces @thesuntoday.

A large coronal hole spewing out lots of fast solar wind has rotated into a geoeffective position, that is, a prime position for affecting Earth. So that stream of solar stuff is due to blast Earth’s magnetic field, meaning more geomagnetic storms … meaning more auroras! The stream is expected to reach us by midday UTC tomorrow (December 4). It’s expected to cause a G2 (moderate) geomagnetic storm . The rush of solar particles should continue into the next day (December 5) with slightly calmer storms at the G1 (minor) level. Aurora watchers get your warm clothes and cameras ready, and please submit your image to EarthSky’s community page.
Last 24 hours: Sun activity is low with 12 C flares over the observation period (11 UTC yesterday to 11 UTC today). The large event was a C4.0 flare from AR3499 at 7:54 UTC December 3. AR3500 produced the most flares during the period at five C flares. The sun has six active regions on its Earth-facing side.

Sun activity for December 2, 2023: Fantastic auroras, over past day

What a day for auroras! As of this writing (11 UTC on December 1), there have been reports of beautiful displays across many time zones and from Earth’s northernmost and southernmost regions. The excitement lasted all day on December 1 as night fell around the globe. For most of the day, Earth’s magnetic field was engaged in G1 (minor) storming. There were also peaks of G2 (moderate) and up to G3 (strong) at around 11 UTC yesterday. Here in the Northern Hemisphere, auroras were reported as far south as northern California – and even Arizona – in the U.S. And Scandinavia reported auroras as far south as Oslo. Iceland had auroras, of course, and also Australia! Thank you all for the beautiful photos you shared at our community page. Keep ’em coming! Earth’s geomagnetic field is back to quiet this morning. It’s expected to continue at quiet-to-unsettled levels during the rest of the day through tomorrow as the effects of several coronal mass ejections (CMEs) on Earth’s magnetic field begin to wane. But more is coming. See Current Geomagnetic Activity below.
Last 24 hours: Turning our heads sunward, activity on our star continues at moderate levels. Sunspot group AR3500 once blasted out an M1.0 flare (at 21:20 UTC on December 1). It caused an R1 (minor) radio blackout on Earth, affecting an area over the South Pacific Ocean, east of French Polynesia. Strong activity has been observed over the past day on the sun’s northwest limb (edge), as long-lasting prominences flickered around the edges of our star. The northeast also showed activity with prominences and jets. In terms of flaring – compared to yesterday’s 14 C flares – we saw a small increase. In the past day, the sun produced 18 Cs, plus the abovementioned M, for a total of 19 flares. Sunspot group AR3500 continues as lead flare producer of the day (and the week). It blasted out 10 flares, the M included, out of the 19 of the past day. It’s also still the biggest sunspot region in extension on the Earth-facing sun. This region is fast moving to the sun’s southwest limb, carried by the sun’s rotation. It’ll be out of sight in the next couple of days. The sun today bears eight total active regions on its Earth-facing side.

Sun activity for December 1, 2023: G3 storm is here! Auroras started

The excitement has begun, and there could be a lot more to follow! By monitoring the solar wind, we’ve been tracking the four coronal mass ejections (CMEs) that have been crossing the distance to Earth, and they’ve just arrived. The first first arrived late yesterday, causing a G1 (minor) geomagnetic storm. The second, a large combination of the three most recent CMEs, arrived just a few hours ago at the time of writing (11 UTC on December 1). A G2 (moderate) geomagnetic storm followed, soon jumping up to a G3 (strong) storm. Auroral imagery has already started flowing in online, largely thanks to graduate student and aurora hunter extraordinaire, Vincent Ledvina. Alaska and western Canada are enjoying the beginnings right now, but if the storm lasts until tonight, those in the northern US could have a show too. Stay tuned!
Last 24 hours: While we’re seeing exciting activity on Earth, sun activity is moderate after the production of one M flare between 11 UTC yesterday and 11 UTC today. The M1.1 was fired by sunspot group AR3502 at 4:39 UTC on December 1. The eruption caused an R1 (minor) radio blackout on Earth, affecting an area over the west coast of Australia. Besides the M, the sun produced 14 C flares during the past day. The lead flare producer of the day (and the week) is sunspot group AR3500, which threw out seven C flares. While showing some decay, this active region has kept its beta-gamma magnetic complexity, so the possibility of large M flares remains. It is still the largest and most complex of the ten active regions currently on the Earth-facing side of our star.

The post Sun activity archive for December 2023 first appeared on EarthSky.

]]> https://earthsky.org/sun/sun-activity-archive-for-december-2023/feed/ 0 https://earthsky.org/earth/earths-magnetic-field-protect-life-move-and-flip/ https://earthsky.org/earth/earths-magnetic-field-protect-life-move-and-flip/#respond Thu, 30 Nov 2023 11:56:03 +0000 https://earthsky.org/?p=458441 Earth's magnetic field helps protect life on Earth. But the magnetic poles wander, and they flip polarity every 100,000 to 1,000,000 years.

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Ofer Cohen, UMass Lowell

The Earth’s magnetic field plays a big role in protecting people from hazardous radiation and geomagnetic activity that could affect satellite communication and the operation of power grids. And the magnetic field moves and flips.

Scientists have studied and tracked the motion of the magnetic poles for centuries. The historical movement of these poles indicates a change in the global geometry of Earth’s magnetic field. It may even indicate the beginning of a field reversal – a flip – between the north and south magnetic poles.

I’m a physicist who studies the interaction between the planets and space. While the north magnetic pole moving a little bit isn’t a big deal, a reversal could have a big impact on Earth’s climate and our modern technology. But these reversals don’t happen instantaneously. Instead, they occur over thousands of years.

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Magnetic field generation

So how are magnetic fields like the one around Earth generated?

Moving electric charges are what generate magnetic fields. A material that enables charges to move easily in it is called a conductor. Metal is one example of a conductor; people use it to transfer electric currents from one place to the other. The electric current itself is simply negative charges called electrons moving through the metal. This current generates a magnetic field.

The Earth’s liquid iron core has layers of conducting material. Currents of charges move throughout the core. And the liquid iron is also moving and circulating in the core. These movements generate the magnetic field.

Irregularities in a magnetic field

Earth isn’t the only planet with a magnetic field; gas giant planets like Jupiter have a conducting metallic hydrogen layer that generates their magnetic fields.

The movement of these conducting layers inside planets results in two types of fields. Larger motions, such as large-scale rotations with the planet, lead to a symmetric magnetic field with a north and a south pole … similar to a toy magnet.

These conducting layers may have some local irregular motions due to local turbulence or smaller flows that do not follow the large-scale pattern. These irregularities will manifest in some small anomalies in the planet’s magnetic field or places where the field deviates from being a perfect dipole field.

These small-scale deviations in the magnetic field can actually lead to changes in the large-scale field over time. And they can potentially cause a complete reversal of the polarity of the dipole field, where the north becomes south and vice versa. The designations of “north” and “south” on the magnetic field refer to their opposite polarities; they’re not related to geographic north and south.

The Earth’s magnetosphere, a protective bubble

The Earth’s magnetic field creates a magnetic “bubble” called the magnetosphere above the uppermost part of the atmosphere, the ionosphere layer.

The magnetosphere plays a major role in protecting people. It shields and deflects damaging, high-energy, cosmic-ray radiation, which is created in star explosions and moves constantly through the universe. The magnetosphere also interacts with solar wind, which is a flow of magnetized gas from the sun.

The magnetosphere and ionosphere’s interaction with magnetized solar wind creates what scientists call space weather. Usually, the solar wind is mild and there’s little to no space weather.

However, there are times when the sun sheds large magnetized clouds of gas – or coronal mass ejections – into space. If these coronal mass ejections make it to Earth, their interaction with the magnetosphere can generate geomagnetic storms. Geomagnetic storms can create auroras, which happen when a stream of energized particles hits the atmosphere and lights up.

During space weather events, there’s more hazardous radiation near Earth. This radiation can potentially harm satellites and astronauts. Space weather can also damage large conducting systems, such as major pipelines and power grids, by overloading currents in these systems.

Space weather events can also disrupt satellite communication and GPS operation, which many people rely on.

Field flips

Scientists map and track the overall shape and orientation of the Earth’s magnetic field using local measurements of the field’s orientation and magnitude and, more recently, models.

The location of the north magnetic pole has moved by about 600 miles (965 km) since it was first measured in 1831. The migration speed has increased from 10 miles per year to 34 miles per year (16 km to 54 km) in more recent years. This acceleration could indicate the beginning of a field reversal, but scientists really can’t tell with less than 200 years of data.

The Earth’s magnetic field reverses on time scales that vary between 100,000 to 1,000,000 years. Scientists can tell how often the magnetic field reverses by looking at volcanic rocks in the ocean.

These rocks capture the orientation and strength of the Earth’s magnetic field when they are created. So dating these rocks provides a good picture of how the Earth’s field has evolved over time.

Field reversals happen fast from a geologic standpoint, though slow from a human perspective. A reversal usually takes a few thousand years. But during this time, the magnetosphere’s orientation may shift and expose more of the Earth to cosmic radiation. These events may change the concentration of ozone in the atmosphere.

Scientists can’t tell with confidence when the next field reversal will happen, but we can keep mapping and tracking the movement of Earth’s magnetic north.

Ofer Cohen, Associate Professor of Physics and Applied Physics, UMass Lowell

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Bottom line: Earth’s magnetic field helps protect life on Earth. But the magnetic poles wander, and they flip polarity every 100,000 to 1,000,000 years.

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