Sol (Sun) and its phenomena

This has been one of the most incredible weather solar weather patterns (here and in the States) I have ever experienced in this life cycle.

The only exception is the year without a summer in 1991.

So began the mind's eye of our future, only to be refined by the experts in the field of true climate change and its causes.



A NEAR-MISS CME IS COMING: NOAA forecasters believe that a CME might pass close to Earth on Sept. 6th. Solar wind plasma snowplowed onto Earth's magnetosphere by the near-miss could spark auroras around the Arctic Circle. However, no geomagnetic storm is expected. CME impact alerts: SMS Text

SOLAR CYCLE 25 CONTINUES TO SURGE: Solar activity continues to intensify. In August 2024, the average monthly sunspot number exceeded 200 for the first time in 23 years, almost doubling the official forecast:


The current solar cycle (Solar Cycle 25) wasn't expected to be this strong. When it began in Dec. 2019, experts predicted it would be weak like its immediate predecessor Solar Cycle 24. Instead, Solar Cycle 25 may be on pace to rival some of the stronger cycles of the 20th century. Already in May 2024 we have experienced a century-class geomagnetic storm with auroras sighted in the South Pacific, central America and south Africa.

The last time sunspot counts were this high, in Sept.-Dec. 2001, the sun was winding up to launch the Great Halloween Storms of '03, which included the strongest X-ray solar flare ever recorded (X45) and a CME so potent it was felt by Voyager at the edge of the solar system. A repeat is not guaranteed, but current sunspot counts tell us it's possible.



Above: A composite view of sunspots in Aug. 2024. Credit: Senol Sanli
Years from now, we may look back and realize that 2024 was the maximum of Solar Cycle 25. Or not; the original "official forecast" predicted Solar Max would occur in July 2025. Either way, we probably have at least 2 more years of high solar activity ahead. Stay tuned.



First snow of September for the high Alpine peaks this Thursday morning, here from the Pic Blanc in Alpe d'Huez at around 3300 meters above sea level. (via @skaping)
 

GEOMAGNETIC STORM WATCH (G1): NOAA forecasters say that a minor G1-class geomagnetic storm is possible later today when a CME is expected to graze Earth's magnetic field. It was hurled toward us by a dark plasma eruption on Sept. 8th. During minor G1 storms, auroras may be seen with the naked-eye in northern-tier US states and photographed by smartphones with nighttime settings. CME impact alerts: SMS Text

ANOTHER EARTH-DIRECTED EXPLOSION: Sunspot AR3814 has a mixed-polarity magnetic field that makes it a threat for strong flares. This morning, it exploded while directly facing Earth:


The ultraviolet flash (category M1.2) ionized the top of Earth's atmosphere and caused a brief shortwave radio blackout over the Pacific Ocean. Mariners and ham radio operators may have noticed loss of signal at frequencies below 20 MHz between 00:15 and 01:00 UT.

Of greater interest is the CME. SOHO coronagraphs detected a full halo CME moving directly toward Earth. A NASA model suggests it will reach our planet during the late hours of Sept. 12th. The impact could cause a G2-class geomagnetic storm. Stay tuned for updates. Aurora alerts: SMS Text

Earth-Directed Storms Come & Big Flare Players Enter | Solar Storm Forecast 11 September 2024


Individuals have reported experiencing health problems from this type of solar activity, and researchers have suggested solar flares might be able to affect human health. However, health issues like headaches or mood changes are unlikely following a solar flare event; more research is needed. Aug 15, 2024

6.3 Earthquake Papua New Guinea Wednesday 9/11/2024

 
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Didn't knew this!!

From spaceweather.com
EARTH'S RING CURRENT IS LEAKING: During the strong (G3) geomagnetic storm of Sept. 12th, Jeffery Dixon looked up from the Agawa Bay in Ontario, Canada, and saw a red band stretching across the sky. It was a sign that Earth's ring current had sprung a leak:
1726333490418.png
"I'm not sure if it was aurora, STEVE or airglow," says Dixon.

Actually, none of the above. Dixon photographed an SAR arc. SAR arcs were discovered in 1956 at the beginning of the Space Age. At first, researchers didn’t know what they were and unwittingly gave them a misleading name: "Stable Auroral Red arcs." However, they are not auroras; the red glow comes from Earth's ring current system.

Yes, Earth has rings. Unlike Saturn's rings, which are vast disks of glittering ice, Earth's rings are made of electricity--a donut-shaped circuit carrying millions of amps around our planet. During strong geomagnetic storms, thermal energy from the rings can leak onto the atmosphere below, imprinting a red glow among the auroras.

On Sept. 12th, SAR arcs were seen from many locations including Pennsylvania, Germany, California and Colorado. Browse the gallery for more.​

Another sing that the The sun is doing something that it is not supposed to do, and that could mean big trouble in the months ahead, I guess.

Ring Current Dynamics

Abstract​

This chapter reviews the current understanding of ring current dynamics. The terrestrial ring current is an electric current flowing toroidally around the Earth, centered at the equatorial plane and at altitudes of ∼10,000 to 60,000 km. Enhancements in this current are responsible for global decreases in the Earth’s surface magnetic field, which have been used to define geomagnetic storms. Intense geospace magnetic storms have severe effects on technological systems, such as disturbances or even permanent damage of telecommunication and navigation satellites, telecommunication cables, and power grids. The main carriers of the ring current are positive ions, with energies from ∼1 keV to a few hundred keV, which are trapped by the geomagnetic field and undergo an azimuthal drift. The ring current is formed by the injection of ions originating in the solar wind and the terrestrial ionosphere into the inner magnetosphere. The injection process involves electric fields, associated with enhanced magnetospheric convection and/or magnetospheric substorms. The quiescent ring current is carried mainly by protons of predominantly solar wind origin, while active processes in geospace tend to increase the abundance (both absolute and relative) of O+ ions, which are of ionospheric origin. During intense geospace magnetic storms, the O+ abundance increases dramatically. This increase has been observed to occur concurrently with the rapid intensification of the ring current in the storm main phase and to result in O+ dominance around storm maximum. This compositional change can affect several dynamic processes, such as species-and energy-dependent charge-exchange and wave-particle scattering loss.


and, there is another one.
 

A powerful X-class flare occurred on the Sun

Today, around 18:30 Moscow time, a powerful X4.5-class flare occurred today: this is the fifth most powerful event in the current solar cycle, that is, since 2017.

1726341409266.png
X4.5 flare on September 14, 2024. The video was obtained at the 30.4 nm line from images from the AIA telescope on the SDO spacecraft.

The explosion was recorded on the eastern edge of the Sun, in the active region number 3825, which just yesterday appeared on the Earth-facing side of our star, emerging from the opposite solar side. The area is quite small, and an explosion of such strength here was completely unexpected by specialists.

Depending on the location of the flash, there is a possibility of a tangential impact on Earth, although it is very small. As information from space coronagraphs becomes available, the direction of motion of the solar matter will become clearer and a more precise answer to the question of whether any part of the ejecta is moving toward Earth will appear.

(The video) in no way clarifies why an explosion of such strength suddenly occurred in this area of the Sun, but, at least, you can get aesthetic pleasure: the flash is exceptionally beautiful.
The video was obtained in the ionized helium line - 30.4 nm. It is the second most abundant element in the Sun after hydrogen. You can see the formation and ejection of a giant “cold” loop of dense gas into space. The temperature of the plasma in the loop is about 100,000 degrees, but the surrounding gas is even hotter, up to about 1 million, so the word “cold” is relatively appropriate. The video clearly shows how incomparably more compact than the ejecta is the region that generated it on the Sun's surface. Against this backdrop, it still doesn't fit in my head how much energy could accumulate here.
Tomorrow there will be a video from the space coronagraphs.
Let's see if anything is moving toward Earth.

/www.deepl.com/
 
1726349635659.jpeg1726349760912.jpeg


The strongest solar flare X4.54 in sunspot cluster AR3825 has triggered a full halo CME, and newly released calculations show that our planet will be directly hit by a coronal mass ejection (CME).
On Monday/Tuesday, a very fast CME will collide with Earth's magnetosphere and trigger a powerful solar storm that could have G4-G5 potential.

Captura de pantalla 2024-09-14 a las 23.45.08.png
 
WARNING: A Geomagnetic K-index of 7 or greater is expected 🤔😬

CME IMPACT SPARKS SEVERE STORM: Arriving about 6 hours later than expected, a CME hit Earth's magnetic field on Sept. 16th (2341 UT). The impact sparked a severe G4-class geomagnetic storm, underway now. High-and even mid-latitude sky watchers should be alert for auroras during the night of Sept. 16-17. Aurora alerts: SMS Text
PARTIAL ECLIPSE OF THE HARVEST MOON: This week's full Moon is special for several reasons. (1) It's the Harvest Moon, the full
Moon closest to the autumnal equinox. (2) It's a perigee Moon, slightly closer to Earth than usual. And, (3), it's going to be partially eclipsed. This animation created by reader Peter Zimnikoval shows the Moon grazing Earth's shadow during the early UTC hours of Sept. 18th:​

For sky watchers in the Americas, the eclipse occurs on Sept. 17th. Peak coverage occurs at 10:44 p.m. EDT (7:44 p.m. PDT), when a little more than 8 percent of the Moon will be in shadow.

Mainstream media stories are trumpeting this as a "supermoon eclipse." Indeed, it is a supermoon, or as an astronomer would say, a "perigee Moon." The Moon's orbit is an ellipse with one side ("perigee") about 50,000 km closer than the other ("apogee"). Full Moons that occur on the perigee side of the Moon's orbit are extra big and bright. This week's Harvest Moon becomes full within 10 hours of perigee, making it about 5 percent bigger and 13 percent brighter than usual. Is that really "super"? You decide.​

Before the days of electric lights, farmers relied on moonlight to harvest ripening autumn crops after sunset. The partial eclipse will briefly dim the glow. Pro-tip for farmers: Take your headlamp

Big Solar Storm Side Swipe with More Up a Sleeve | Space Weather Spotlight 16 September 2024
Our Sun keeps our full attention this week with a partly Earth-directed solar storm on the way! This storm launched from Region 3845 during the X4.5-flare back on September 14. NOAA & NASA predictions indicate arrival anytime from 0600 UTC to 1800 UTC September 16. Likely the storm will arrive on the late side, possibly deflected further east by a fast solar wind stream. We could see G2, possibly G3 levels even if the storm grazes us because Earth is already preconditioned to storm. Aurora photographers should stay vigilant today and tomorrow for impact. Amateur radio operators will also need to be prepared for R3-level radio blackouts on the dayside because it looks like Region 3825 might have more up its sleeve. There has been new growth in the region over the past 12 hours or so, which may indicate that flare potential is growing again. If the growth persists, then not only could we get another X-flare, we could also get a bigger Earth-directed solar storm launch. Learn the details of the coming solar storm, find out more about Region 3825, and see what else is in store this week. Want early access to these forecasts, tutorials on Space Weather, & more? Visit: / spaceweatherwoman

👀

I wonder if the LA PORTE, Texas event was a precursor to this 5.1


HVO Kilauea ORANGE/WATCH - Elevated unrest in Kīlauea middle East Rift Zone. https://bit.ly/3MQt1Mx
 
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Interesting anomalies in the satellite data since yesterday at the SOHO Movie Theater.
Something happpened between 2024/09/16 13:00 and 2024/09/17 01:00, pictures are missing, and then...
Have a look at this:

Satellite Image C3
The pictures became very bright, was is going on here?
1726571424495.png and the following picture: 1726571475000.png

Satellite Image eit171
The pictures are up side down?
1726571538577.png and the following picture: 1726571568048.png

Satellite Image eit284
Same here, pictures are up side down?
1726571631714.png and the following picture: 1726571658081.png

Looks like the sun has been emitting some kind of energy the sateilites can't handle?
Perhaps nothing unusual, but I will keep watching.
 
And the show with the anomalies goes on.

Satellite Image C3
At the SOHO Movie Theater the last picture from C3 was at 06:30:
View attachment 101435 And on spaceweather.gov it continued to: View attachment 101436

Satellite Image C2
This one changed, too:
View attachment 101437 And twelve minutes later: View attachment 101438

I think it will be adjusted soon back to normal.
Anyhow it looks like something happened that is until now not visible for us.

Let's wait and see.
If the photos are real and it's not a computer failure or something similar, the sun flashes once and then another exactly the same one but inverted.

The most common thing is a failure of the photographic systems, but it would be very funny if the sun was doing that.
 
If the photos are real and it's not a computer failure or something similar, the sun flashes once and then another exactly the same one but inverted.

The most common thing is a failure of the photographic systems, but it would be very funny if the sun was doing that.
I think, too, it is a failure of the satellite. The pictures simple rotated by 180°.
But the unusual thing here is that C3 has become very bright. As if new and large sunspots arised in the missing time. It is the far side of the Earth, but if the brightness is still correct, it can become interesting.
 
The show is over, nothing to see. But I wanted to know where the anomalies were coming from. So I did some research.
This is what I found:
  • The SOHO satellite uses CCD chips (charge coupled device) in its cameras. To make sure they are working properly, every few month a so called bakeout is beeing performed. In that time the system is heated up from -60°C to +25°C to drive off chemical contamination such as water vapor (ice) or gases from the spacecraft. The bakeouts typically last a day or two. This could be a reason for the gap, but I thik it was not the case this time.
  • Over time the EIT (Extreme ultraviolet Imaging Telescope) instrument gets an image "burned in" to the CCD. Bright areas such as the latitude belt where active regions are common burn in faster. These areas will show as bright areas even though there is no real solar feature present. Rotating SOHO and doing off-points from sun center are done to help understand the degradation. The bake-out reduces the effect but it is a fact of life that the EIT CCD will degrade over time due to the EUV hitting the CCD.
  • It is NASA's Deep Space Network that receives and publishes the satellite data. If there is an emergency with another satellite(s), the communication is concentrated there to fix that. This can create gaps for the SOHO data.
So what we have seen here is: The C3 camera detected the "image burned to the CCD" effect (this is the reason why the pictures became so bright). And the protocol for this is to rotate the whole satellite. In addition to that it may performed the bakeout. And this would explain the time gap.

Sources:
 
This is an AI Free Zone! Text created by Large Language Models is spreading rapidly across the Internet. It's well-written, artificial, frequently inaccurate. If you find a mistake on Spaceweather.com, rest assured it was made by a real human being.

QUIET WEEKEND: No CMEs are heading for Earth and no sunspots are actively flaring. As a result, space weather is expected to be quiet for the third day in a row. Solar flare alerts: SMS Text

Planetary K-index
Now:Kp=2.33 quiet
24-hr max:Kp= 3.33 quiet
explanation | more data


4.2 Earthquake Aromas, CA Watch California for further movement. Sunday 9/29/2024



LOL!
European Climate-Gate scam confounds The MET4Cast
 
It's been a while since the last strong flare on our side of the sun...

SpaceWeather.com :
STRONG SOLAR FLARE: The quiet has ended. Earlier today, sunspot AR3842 produced an M7.6-class solar flare (movie) and a shortwave radio blackout over the Pacific Ocean. AR3842 has a delta-class magnetic field that harbors energy for even stronger X-class flares.

Dr K. Strong :
The Sun just produced an M7.7 flare from sunspot region AR3842 peaking at about 23:40 UT. No sign of a significant CME as yet for that region.

1727761192895.jpeg
 
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