A Weak Geomagnetic Storm Is Underway A disturbance in our planet’s magnetic environment, caused by the impact of a coronal mass ejection (CME) from Active Region 1520 on the Sun, is causing the appearance of aurorae right now.  The activity is indicated in the above plot of the K index, a measure of the condition of geomagnetic field.  The red bars show that the disturbance is causing the field to change rapidly, which often leads to displays of aurorae. However, this event was a little weaker than it could have been due to the glancing blow that the CME struck yesterday, so the only observations of aurorae are at high latitudes (above about 60º).  However, a few observers at lower latitudes saw the lights last night, such as Brad Goldpaint  who captured this image of auroras reflecting from Sparks Lake in central Oregon: (Credit & copyright: Brad Goldpaint, courtesy of Spaceweather.com) There are no strong active regions heading onto the solar disk now, so we’re out of the woods for a while.
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A Weak Geomagnetic Storm Is Underway

A disturbance in our planet’s magnetic environment, caused by the impact of a coronal mass ejection (CME) from Active Region 1520 on the Sun, is causing the appearance of aurorae right now.  The activity is indicated in the above plot of the K index, a measure of the condition of geomagnetic field.  The red bars show that the disturbance is causing the field to change rapidly, which often leads to displays of aurorae.

However, this event was a little weaker than it could have been due to the glancing blow that the CME struck yesterday, so the only observations of aurorae are at high latitudes (above about 60º).  However, a few observers at lower latitudes saw the lights last night, such as Brad Goldpaint  who captured this image of auroras reflecting from Sparks Lake in central Oregon:

(Credit & copyright: Brad Goldpaint, courtesy of Spaceweather.com)

There are no strong active regions heading onto the solar disk now, so we’re out of the woods for a while.

Giant sunspot could hurl strong solar flares toward Earth

A “monster sunspot” more than 60,000 miles wide could send some powerful solar flares toward Earth on Wednesday, NASA says.

(Image of Active Region 11476.  CREDIT: NASA/SDO)

“The sunspot — actually a group of four spots, each larger than Earth, and smaller spots — emerged over the weekend and was spotted by the orbiting Solar Dynamics Observatory and amateur astronomers,Spaceweather.com reported (via Space.com). It tossed off a moderately strong M-class flare today, and is expected to follow up with even stronger flares, possibly even X class.”

(Observers at mid to high latitudes, above about 40º, should be on the lookout for aurorae later this week, if AR 11476 pops off an X-class flare. -JCB)

Largest Sunspot in Years Observed on the Sun

(The gigantic sunspot in the upper left of this image is about 50,000 miles (80,000 km) long and was observed on the sun by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory on Nov. 3, 2011. CREDIT: SDO )

“One of the largest sunspots in years has appeared on the sun, darkening part of its glowing face.”

“The massive sunspot, called AR1339, is about 50,000 miles (80,000 km) long, and 25,000 miles (40,000 km) wide, reportsSpaceWeather.com. For comparison, Earth itself is only 8,000 miles (12,800 km) wide.”

“The sunspot behemoth isn’t yet facing our planet, but was spotted today (Nov. 3) by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) satellite. The spacecraft’s photos of the giant sunspot show the solar region as it comes into view on the northeastern edge, or limb, of the sun.”