Solar and Aurora Activity Chat

[Polar Maritime]

A fantastic timelapse video of the northern Michigan sky - lots of aurora, stars and more, created by Shawn Malone!

 http://vimeo.com/65504232

[Methuselah]

Bloody brilliant, PM...Reminds of the Moray Firth...

[Polar Maritime]

 

 

GENTLE SOLAR WIND, DEEP-SKY AURORAS: A solar wind stream continues to buffet Earth's magnetic field on May 8th. The force of the buffeting is not enough to cause a full-fledged geomagnetic storm, but it has ignited faint auroras at high latitudes. Practically invisible to the human eye, these "deep-sky" auroras are nevertheless a beautiful sight when properly exposed using a digital camera. Last night, Shawn Malone of Marquette, Michigan, took this picture overlooking Lake Superior: http://www.spaceweather.com/

 

[Polar Maritime]

Today's "ring of fire" solar eclipse is happening right now - watch live here: http://events.slooh.com/

 

Edited May 9, 2013 by Polar Maritime

[Polar Maritime]

You can really make out the magnetic filament on the Southwestern limb every now and again on the live Solar Eclipse feed  http://events.slooh.com/

Edited May 9, 2013 by Polar Maritime

[Polar Maritime]

A solar flare reaching C9.0 was just observed around old Sunspot 1726

 

[Polar Maritime]

 

[Polar Maritime]

Another M class flare peaking at M1.3 from sunspot 1726, this region will rotate into Earth's direction over the next 24hrs. As things stand, I can say we are definitely now into the 2nd peak of this double peak Solar Cycle. Interesting times ahead...

 

[jethro]

This old (2009) but some amazing photo's of a total solar eclipse.

 

http://www.zam.fme.vutbr.cz/~druck/Eclipse/Ecl2009e/0-info.htm

[karyo]

Another M class flare peaking at M1.3 from sunspot 1726, this region will rotate into Earth's direction over the next 24hrs. As things stand, I can say we are definitely now into the 2nd peak of this double peak Solar Cycle. Interesting times ahead...

 

 

 

I am kind of disappointed this double peak is materialising! I was hoping the sun would have remained sleepy.

 

Karyo

[Polar Maritime]

I take it you have next winter in mind Karyo ? If so I wouldn't worry to much, as best to get it out the way now and not later on in the year.  

Edited May 10, 2013 by Polar Maritime

[Polar Maritime]

Jeez, Look at the size of the sunspot 1726 that's been coursing all the recent M class flares, and rotating into Earth's firing line, It's massive ! Hopefully scope for X class flares out of this very soon... Time to get the foil hat and emergency survival kit out Yamkin ! 

 

[karyo]

I take it you have next winter in mind Karyo ? If so I wouldn't worry to much, as best to get it out the way now and not later on in the year.  

I loved it in 2008 when we had no sunspots for weeks! And look at the succession of cold winters we had since! I just hope this active period fizzles out soon.

 

Karyo

Edited May 11, 2013 by karyo

[Tamara]

The point is though that this solar maximum phase is surpressed in strength of activity relative to previous cycles. There is bound to be activity like this in the positive phase of a cycle, but it is the trend in terms of relative strength which is significant.

[BornFromTheVoid]

When it comes to regional weather, some think that it's the length of the solar cycle or the total solar irradiance changes that have the biggest influence, while the UV changes are the most likely thing to influence the weather in our part of the world.

[Polar Maritime]

[Polar Maritime]

Attached is an updated look at Sunspot 1745 on Saturday morning. This region is currently producing low level C-Class flares. Image by SDO/HMI.

 

[BornFromTheVoid]

Dunno where to post this, but a live space walk from the ISS as they attempt to fix an ammonia leak.

 

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html

[Polar Maritime]

Thanks BFTV !

[Polar Maritime]

Loved the Space walk this afternoon, Col. Chris Hadfield is on facebook, been following him for a while from the ISS. Here's a few pics of him from this afternoon. What would I give to do this ! Also C8.0 Solar Flare around new Sunspot 1746 a few hours ago..

Edited May 11, 2013 by Polar Maritime

[Polar Maritime]

M1.9 Solar Flare an 1 hour ago.

 

 

[Polar Maritime]

Another M flare just..

[Polar Maritime]

X2 Flare From a new region off the East limb, this active region is turning towards earth in the next few hours. Also 2 M class flares were produced from the same spot...

 

 

Edited May 13, 2013 by Polar Maritime

[Polar Maritime]

STRONGEST FLARE OF THE YEAR: A sunspot hiding behind the sun's northeastern limb erupted on May 13th at 02:17 UT, producing the strongest solar flare of the year so far. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory recorded the extreme UV flash from the X1.7-class eruption:

 

Coronagraphs onboard the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) tracked a bright CME emerging from the blast site: movie. No planets were in the line of fire. However, the CME appears to be on course to hit NASA's Epoxi and Spitzer spacecraft on May 15th.

The sunspot that produced this blast is on the farside of the sun. Soon, in a few days, it will turn toward Earth, emerging into view over the sun's eastern limb. Stay tuned for a better view and, perhaps, more flares. http://www.spaceweather.com/

Edited May 13, 2013 by Polar Maritime

[Manchester_Sunset]

3D sun app for Iphone updates and beeps whenever a solar flare or activity on the sun erupts!

Edited May 13, 2013 by SheffieldWeathergirl