The Sun
- Thread starter HBS Guy
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spaceweather.com:
Solar wind
speed: 716.7 km/sec <===== this is HUGE!
density: 3.14 protons/cm3
X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: C1 0556 UT Sep16
24-hr: C3 1831 UT Sep15
Sunspot number: 110
THE SUN IS BLOWING A GALE: Earth is inside a stream of solar wind blowing faster than 700 km/s (1.6 million mph). The gale is blowing from a large butterfly-shaped hole in the sun's atmosphere--and it's potent. First contact with the stream on Sept. 14th sparked auroras in more than a dozen US states from Alaska to Arizona. (Here's a nice video from Colorado.)
"Let's talk about last night," says Ray Majoran of London, Ontario. "I certainly wasn't expecting that!" Here is what he saw in the countryside 20 minutes north of London:
"My friend Ken and I traipsed through dirt and ditches to find some interesting foregrounds," he says. "I only face-planted in the dark twice -- once in a field, and another when I underestimated the depth of a ditch. All worth it though!"
Normally, a solar wind stream like this might cause no more than a minor G1-class storm. In this case, the storm was amplified to category G3 by the "Russell-McPherron effect," which links the magnetic field of the sun to the magnetic field of Earth during weeks around equinoxes. We can expect more of these "equinox storms" from now through mid-October.
spaceweather.com:
Solar wind
speed: 552.4 km/sec
density: 1.99 protons/cm3
X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: C1 0343 UT Sep18
24-hr: C2 0004 UT Sep18
Sunspot number: 119
NASA ANNOUNCES INCREASING SOLAR ACTIVITY: A new study published Sept. 8th in the Astrophysical Journal Letters concludes that solar activity has reversed a decades-long weakening trend. Future solar cycles should be even more intense than the one we're in now (Solar Cycle 25). The findings confirm our own report in May predicting long-term increases in solar activity. Stay tuned for more sunspots and fewer Starlinks. Aurora alerts: SMS Text.
PROTON PANCAKES: During Monday's strong geomagnetic storm, auroras filled the sky over Binghamton, New York. "What an incredible show!" says Jessica Fridrich, a longtime aurora chaser who has seen many similar displays before. This time, however, there was something different. Look at this horizontal green band:
Fridrich photographed many examples during the storm. "I believe these might be proton auroras," she says.
She's right. We call them "proton pancakes." Most auroras are caused by electrons from the sun. The green bands Fridrich photographed, however, are illuminated by protons. They come from Earth's ring current system.
Think of Saturn's rings--except made of electricity. Earth is encircled by a donut-shaped circuit carrying millions of amps. During strong geomagnetic storms, protons can rain down from the ring system to create unusual forms in the atmosphere.