SOLAR WATCH * Huge X8.2 Flare Sept. 10, 2017! (Updated Daily)

THE SOLAR WIND IS HERE: A minor stream of solar wind is buffeting Earth's magnetic field today, stirring geomagnetic unrest around the poles. The gaseous material is flowing from a northern hole in the sun's atmosphere. Antarctic sky watchers should be alert for auroras in austral winter darkness.

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@mcdonaldobs
Join us for Live Solar Viewing from McDonald Observatory, July 7 starting at 11:00am Central time.

Your host Joe Wheelock will show you views of the Sun (weather permitting) with specially filtered telescopes at our Visitor's Center, as well as the Solar Dynamics Observatory.

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COMET NEOWISE MEETS A NOCTILUCENT CLOUD: When European astronomers woke up Monday morning to photograph Comet NEOWISE (C/2020 F3), they saw something they didn't expect. The sunrise comet was surrounded by noctilucent clouds.

Robert Barsa video-recorded the encounter from Lubietova, Slovakia: [link to spaceweathergallery.com (secure)]

Talk about perfect timing. Barsa chose to photograph Comet NEOWISE during a major outbreak of noctilucent clouds. "The comet was drowning in them," says Barsa. "I could easily see the comet with my naked eye as it rose over Dumbier Peak in the Low Tatras Mountains. It was stunning."

Comet NEOWISE is now a worldwide sensation. It will remain a morning comet for the next ~week, then, by mid-month, shift to evening skies where casual star gazers can see it without waking at the crack of dawn. Given the recent explosion of noctilucent clouds, more videos like Barsa's may be in the offing as well.

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The live stream has ended, but here's the video. :)


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@TMFAssociates
Starlink continues to experience satellite propulsion failures at an astonishingly high rate,
with 3 more lost at operational altitude between May 15 and June 23. Compare

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COMET NEOWISE SPROUTS ANOTHER TAIL: Comet NEOWISE just keeps getting better. Not only is it visible to the naked eye in morning twilight, but also, now, it has two tails.

Sebastian Voltmer photographed them over the village church of Spicheren, France: [link to spaceweathergallery.com (secure)]

The brighter of the two is the dust tail, made of dusty-rocky grains sprinkled like crumbs along the comet's curved orbit. Just above it is the faint ion tail, made of gas shoved straight away from the sun by the solar wind.

"The ion tail is relatively dim," says Voltmer. "To record it, I had to stack 63 frames captured with my Nikon D800 digital camera (ISO 320)."

Look carefully at the ion tail; it's blue. This makes it tricky to see against a backdrop of blue twilight. Visibility will improve in the days ahead as the comet moves into darker skies farther from the sun.

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CME (not earth directed)

[link to sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov (secure)]

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A Huge Filament Erupted from the Sun Producing a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME)

At approximately 23:30 UT a large filament on the northwest of the Sun erupted. The resulting coronal mass ejection (CME) was first observed in the SOHO LASCO C2 and SOHO LASCO C3 coronagraphs.


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Comet Neowise Time-Lapse - Briggsdale, CO - 7/9/2020


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A "CANYON OF FIRE" ON THE SUN: During the late hours of July 8th, a magnetic filament on the sun became unstable and snapped. The eruption cut a "canyon of fire" in the sun's atmosphere and hurled a faint coronal mass ejection (CME) into space. NOAA analysts are modeling the CME now to see if it might hit Earth's magnetic field in the days ahead.

[link to spaceweather.com (secure)]

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COMET NEOWISE HAS A SUPER-SIZED NUCLEUS: Now we know why Comet NEOWISE (C/2020 F3) is so bright. Its nucleus is huge. Researchers working with NASA's NEOWISE spacecraft have analyzed infrared emissions from the comet's core, shown here in discovery images last March: [link to www.jpl.nasa.gov (secure)]

"They found the nucleus to be ~5 km in diameter, which is extremely large for a comet approaching this close to the sun," says Qicheng Zhang of Caltech. "That explains its high activity."

On July 3rd, Comet NEOWISE passed by the sun near the orbit of Mercury. Its oversized nucleus helped it survive the blast of heat, and provided the raw material for the comet's now-flamboyant tail.

"Comets of this size have survived much more heating than NEOWISE," says Zhang, who studies the break-up of comets. "It should hold together." On the other hand, if Comet NEOWISE does break up,"there's probably enough dust left in the nucleus to make it an even more impressive comet." Win-win.

Seeing Comet NEOWISE is easy. Wake up about 90 minutes before sunrise, find a place with a clear horizon, and look northeast. The comet is visible to the naked eye as a fuzzy patch with a tail. Binoculars are recommended for full effect.

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Solar Storm to hit Earth July 14th!?! Probably.


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NASA’s STEREO-A Spacecraft Spots Comet Encke Passing Near the Sun

Comet NEOWISE deservedly grabbing all the attention, but in other news, comet 2P/Encke has finally perked up.

By early July, skywatchers at southern latitudes will nab the comet shining around magnitude 7.5 to 8 as it crosses Cancer in evening twilight. Moving rapidly eastward, the comet fades quickly, dimming to 11th magnitude by month's end.

Comet Encke has the shortest orbital period of any known comet within our solar system. It takes 3.30 years for Encke to orbit the Sun once. Its nucleus measures approximately 2,98 miles (4.8 kilometers) in diameter.


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This?
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Nice catch! The cme arrived a little earlier than expected. :)

WEAK IMPACT: Arriving earlier than expected, a slow-moving CME that left the sun on July 8th appears to have struck during the early hours of July 13th. The weak impact sparked auroras behind Comet NEOWISE over the US-Canadian border. Otherwise, however, the CME had little effect.

[link to spaceweather.com (secure)]

pic of comet and auroras [link to spaceweathergallery.com (secure)]

Two Solar Storms, One Hits Earth | Space Weather News 07.14.2020

This week our Sun launched two solar storms, one of which was Earth-directed! The storm has hit, right on time and all through the night people have been getting some amazing aurora shots down to mid-latitudes along with comet NEOWISE (as far south as Michigan in the USA, from what Ive seen thus far)! If you are a member of my Patreon community or follow me on Twitter, you got an early warning of this solar storm and hopefully got some once-in-a-lifetime shots! This solar storm is now waning, but should continue over the next day or so before things return to quiet. As for our star, it continues to be spotless, which means the solar flux is in the high 60s and radio propagation on Earth's dayside continues to be poor. However, this low solar flux means GPS reception on the dayside should be pretty good-- just be careful on Earth's nightside with the ongoing solar storm. Especially if you are near aurora or near dawn or dusk, your GPS reception will likely be unreliable. Learn more details about this ongoing solar storm, how long aurora will last, and see what else our Sun has in store this week!


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COMET NEOWISE JUST KEEPS GETTING BETTER: It's the best comet in years, possibly decades. Comet NEOWISE (C/2020 F3) is amazing observers as it climbs higher in the evening sky, positioning itself as an easy target for casual stargazers. Browse the NEOWISE Photo Gallery for images from around the world. Recent photos of the comet with auroras are especially marvelous.

Photo Gallery [link to spaceweathergallery.com (secure)]

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SOLAR CYCLE UPDATE: NOAA has released a new interactive tool to explore the solar cycle. It lets you scroll back through time, comparing sunspot counts now to peaks and valleys of the past. One thing is clear. Solar Minimum is here, and it’s one of the deepest in a century.

Link to interactive tool: [link to www.swpc.noaa.gov (secure)]

In 2019, the sun went 281 days without sunspots, and 2020 is producing spotless suns at about the same rate. To find a year with fewer sunspots, you have to go all the way back to 1913, which had 311 spotless days. This makes 2019-2020 a century-class Solar Minimum; solar flares are rare, geomagnetic storms are almost non-existent, and Earth’s upper atmosphere is cooling.

Some people worry that the sun could "get stuck" in Solar Minimum, producing a mini-Ice Age caused by low solar activity. There is no evidence this is happening. On the contrary, the next solar cycle (Solar Cycle 25) is showing unmistakable signs of life.

Observers are also seeing a growing number of Solar Cycle 25 sunspots. So far in 2020, the sun has produced a dozen sunspots. Nine of them (75%) have the magnetic polarity of Solar Cycle 25. This compares to only 17% in 2019 and 0% in 2018. The sun is clearly tipping from one solar cycle to the next.

A NOAA-led panel of experts actually predicted this behaviour. Last year they said that Solar Minimum would hit rock bottom sometime in late 2019-early 2020. Activity would then quicken in 2021-22, ramping up to a new Solar Maximum in 2023-26.

So far, so good.

[link to spaceweather.com (secure)]

Solar Minimum is Here, and It’s One of the Deepest in a Century - Solar Cycle Update


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@SkyandTelescope
The first images to be released from the European Space Agency’s Sun-imaging spacecraft show intriguing “campfires” that could help explain a solar mystery.

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DOGS CAN SENSE MAGNETIC FIELDS: Add dogs to the list of lifeforms that can use magnetic fields to navigate. New research summarized in today's issue of Science magazine shows that at least some hunting dogs take shortcuts along N-S magnetic field lines--a strategy that helps them navigate unfamiliar terrain. This means dogs may be sensitive to the disturbing effects of space weather.

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FULL STORY [link to www.sciencemag.org (secure)]

SOLAR WIND, INCOMING: A stream of solar wind might hit Earth's magnetic field on July 23-24. The gaseous material is flowing from an equatorial hole in the sun's atmosphere. It's not a major hole, but the emerging gas might be enough to spark high-latitude auroras when it reaches Earth later this week.

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Arrived early once again?
[link to www.godlikeproductions.com]

Wrong link :/
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A NEW SUNSPOT? A sunspot may be turning to face Earth. Its towering magnetic canopy is rising over the sun's southeastern limb, right here. [link to spaceweather.com (secure)]

If it is a sunspot, its high southern latitude suggests it would be a member of new Solar Cycle 25. The active region should reveal inself in the next 24-48 hours. Stay tuned!

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Solar wind speed has been under 400 km/s

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CME IMPACT POSSIBLE THIS WEEK: On July 19th, a faint, slow-moving CME left the sun. NOAA analysts believe the plasma cloud could graze Earth's magnetic field on July 24th or 25th. A similar slow-moving CME hit Earth on July 13th, causing high-latitude auroras and a surprise visit from STEVE.

[link to spaceweather.com (secure)]


Looks like a head on hit [link to iswa.gsfc.nasa.gov (secure)]


I wonder what, if any, affect this will have on that asteroid that's passing us on the 24th.