June 30 2012 Impulsive CMEs & Flares HD

  
Sunspot AR1513 is crackling with impulsive M-class solar flares. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory recorded the extreme ultraviolet flash from one of them at 0920 UT on June 29th:



This M2-class flare (like a similar eruption yesterday) illuminated Earth's upper atmosphere with a pulse of X-rays and extreme ultraviolet radiation. Waves of ionization rippled over Europe, altering the propagation of low-frequency radio signals around the continent. Using a receiver tuned to 60 kHz, Rob Stammes detected the sudden ionospheric disturbance over Norway. His antennas also picked up radio waves from the flare itself at 26 MHz and 56 MHz.

More ionization waves and solar radio bursts are in the offing. NOAA forecasters estimate a 30% chance of continued M-flares during the next 24 hours.

June 29 2012 Coronal Holes & Solar Magnetic Tornadoes HD

 

I would hold up my hand against the sun squeezing my fingers tightly together and see the outlines of their bones, nature’s X-Ray machine. But the sun could do so much more. It could sprinkle sparkles across the lake, dancing on the waves like fairy elves beckoning to join them in a cooling splash or even send many different coloured rays on the edges of my mother’s large hallway mirror.

I’d check and count the different colours of light with my right eye and then recheck with my left and count again the lights splitting into rainbow colours. My grandfather would at times worry then warn me, to stand in front of a mirror is vain, but I did not notice my own reflection, I saw the wonders of the sun.

As children we didn’t see the sun as an efficient machine with many intricate parts we saw it as a happy sun drawn somewhere on the left hand corner of a page or a sad sun if it would rain.

The sun is so much more complex we all strive to understand and still, each time I look up to see the sun there is something new to behold, something new that makes me want to understand. And so today I still chase the wonders of the sun.

Trudi

Coronal holes are of very low density (typically 100 times lower than the rest of the corona) and have an open magnetic field structure; in other words, magnetic field lines emerging from the holes extend indefinitely into space rather than looping back into the photosphere. This open structure allows charged particles to escape from the Sun and results in coronal holes being the primary source of the solar wind and the exclusive source of its high-speed component.

During the minimum years of the solar cycle, coronal holes are largely confined to the Sun's polar regions (although some exceptions have been observed by SOHO), while at solar maximum they can open up at any latitudes.

  

Solar Magnetic Tornadoes

We report the discovery of abundant 'magnetic tornadoes' above the surface of the Sun. Magnetic tornadoes resemble tornadoes on the Earth but have a magnetic skeleton and are hundreds to thousands times larger in diameter. One such observed tornado occupies the area equivalent of Europe or the USA.

We find that magnetic tornadoes have swirling speeds of many 10,000 km/hour. Magnetic tornadoes transport energy from the Sun's surface into its uppermost layer, the corona, where they contribute to the heating of the Sun's outer atmosphere. Consequently, magnetic tornadoes may well be the crucial missing piece of a long-standing puzzle in astrophysics: the heating of the outer solar and stellar atmospheres.

We estimate that there are as many as 11,000 of these swirling events above the Sun's surface at all times. The discovery has been made possible through state-of-the-art technology, namely the combination of extremely high resolution observations from the Swedish 1-m Solar Telescope located at La Palma [Canary Isl.] with data from the NASA's space-borne Solar Dynamics Observatory. With the help of state-of-the-art 3-D numerical simulations of the solar atmosphere, we unraveled the fascinating physics of this new and important phenomena.

This discovery will be published in the journal Nature on June 28th, 2012. It will also be featured on the cover page.

Importance of magnetic tornadoes: One would expect that the atmosphere of the Sun should become cooler with increasing distance from its surface. Remarkably, the opposite occurs and the temperature rises to over a million degrees. How the atmosphere is heated to these temperatures is a fundamental question of modern astrophysics, also referred to as coronal heating problem. Solving the heating problem is crucial for understanding our Sun, including the generation of the solar `wind' and its impact on the Earth's atmosphere (e.g. solar storms, Northern lights) and spacecraft in Earth's Orbit (e.g. satellite communication disruption). It is generally believed that large magnetic arcades that exist in the Sun's outer regions, which are anchored to the bubbling Sun surface, can transport outwards the energy required for heating. We have discovered an alternative but widespread way of transporting enough energy for atmospheric heating due to relentless twisting of the magnetic arcades at their footpoints. A manifestation of this twisting appears close to the Sun surface, which we observe in incredible detail, and describe as a `solar magnetic tornado'.

Credit:

Solar Magnetic Tornadoes - Text, Image & Animation

With permission from

Dr. Sven Wedemeyer-Böhm University of Oslo, Norway

http://folk.uio.no/svenwe/

June 26 2012 What's Up with the Sun? Check it Out HD

 
The sun had been quiet towards our earth nevertheless her activity continued out of view for us. A bright CME billowed away from the Northwestern limb on June 22nd . Because of the explosion's location on the NW edge of the solar disk, some calculated the cloud would not hit Earth, however as it will show on the diagram it did affect us since earth was still geomagnetically connected.


On June 16 if you'd blink while observing the sun you'd totally miss a coronal mass ejection from AR1510 hurdling towards Earth arriving on June 22nd surprising many why they saw this spike in the geomagnetosphere. I did catch it and here it is if you've missed it the first time around.
An active sunspot on the farside of the sun is only days away from showing itself. During the late hours of June 25th, NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory recorded an explosion which heralds the sunspot's approach.
The farside blast hurled a cloud of plasma over the sun's southeastern limb. Earth was not in the line of fire, but Mars might be. The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory saw a coronal mass ejection (movie) heading in the general direction of the Red Planet. The rover Curiosity, en route to Mars now, might detect something as the cloud passes by. A glancing blow to Mars itself is possible on June 29th or 30th.
and more ....
Thank you for watching and have a fantastic day.

Fluffy the Newly Appointed Patriarch HD

  
Fluffy's work begins early mornings ......
After Master Murphy's passing, (chosen previously by Murphy), Fluffy took over as the troops patriarch. He takes his role very seriously to ensure all runs smoothly within the troop.
Somehow Fluffy is under the impression that the Bernese Mountain Puppies are also included in this arrangement and no one bothered to tell him otherwise.

June 22 2012 Goodbye Sunspot 1504 Hello AR1510 HD

  
Although the sunspot is not directly facing Earth, it will affect our planet June 24th. Magnetically speaking, Earth is well-connected to AR1504's location on the southwestern limb.


Over the past two weeks we have been watching the Active Region 1504 appear on the Eastern limb of the Sun, release several M-class solar flares while moving across the Earth facing side of the Sun. As it is decaying and moving towards the Western limb of the Sun, we are getting one good last look at these beautiful sunspots.

A solar prominence (also known as a filament when viewed against the solar disk) is a large, bright feature extending outward from the Sun's surface. Prominences are anchored to the Sun's surface in the photosphere, and extend outwards into the Sun's hot outer atmosphere, called the corona. A prominence forms over timescales of about a day, and stable prominences may persist in the corona for several months, looping hundreds of thousands of miles into space. Scientists are still researching how and why prominences are formed.

The red-glowing looped material is plasma, a hot gas comprised of electrically charged hydrogen and helium. The prominence plasma flows along a tangled and twisted structure of magnetic fields generated by the sun's internal dynamo. An erupting prominence occurs when such a structure becomes unstable and bursts outward, releasing the plasma. (Credit: NASA SDO)


AR1504 gave us a wonderful show but now it's time to say goodbye.

A special thanks to the boys and girls on the ISS (International Space Station) and Don Pettit for the amazing space images.

A special thanks to 38Starman for the double CME -- AR 1504's last shot towards Earth.

That's all there is for today
Wish you all a wonderful weekend and thank you for watching.

June 16 2012 MASSIVE CME HURLED TOWARDS EARTH TODAY FROM AR1504[19:44:00...

  For the past some days our sun's AE 1504 has been erupting with consecutive CMEs towards space and our earth, ranging from class C1.0 to class M2.0 eruptions.

Today the previous class M1.9 eruption & class M1.2 CME is impacting earth's magnetosphere causing a mild to medium magnetic storm with some disturbance in satellite reception possible. Tonight's aurora should be splendid.
UPDATE: 10:00p.m Intitially the impact appeared to be weak, but now the effects are growing. Analysts at the Goddard Space Weather Lab say the impact strongly compressed Earth's magnetic field, directly exposing some geosynchronous satellites to solar wind plasma. Geomagnetic storms and auroras in the hours ahead.
Sunspot AR1504 has developed a 'beta-gamma-delta' magnetic field that harbors energy for strong solar flares--and the huge sunspot is directly facing Earth.

The massive CME erupting on the sun earlier today should arrive sometimes in the. days up ahead.

June 14 2012 M1.2 CME TARGETS VENUS, EARTH & MARS HD

 
Solar Tsunami
Grand Canyon Fire
Active sunspot AR1504 erupted on June 13th at 1319 UT, producing a long-duration
M1-flare and hurling a CME into space. According to analysts at the Goddard Space Weather Lab, the cloud will deliver a glancing blow to three planets: Venus on June 15th, Earth on June 16th, and Mars on June 19th.

June 11 2012 Sunspot AR1504 Crackling w Impulsive M-Class Solar Flare HD

  
SHAPE-SHIFTING SUNSPOT: As it pops and crackles with low level solar flares, sunspot AR1504 is rapidly evolving. During the past 24 hours the active region has shape-shifted from an irregular dumbbell into a dark ring of magnetism wide enough to circumscribe a half-dozen planet Earths:
NOAA forecasters estimate a 55% chance of M-class solar flares today as the sunspot's magnetic field shifts and destabilizes. Eruptions later this week could be geoeffective as the sunspot turns to face Earth.

June 8 2012 - 13 CMEs in Succession Sun Warns More To Come HD

 
11 class C flares in the past two days
1 class C9.1flare
1 class M2.1 flare

Most active region 11499 with 5 class C flares
Regions most likely to flare 1499

The odds of a significant solar flare are improving as three sunspots develop complex magnetic fields with energy for M-class eruptions.

Two sunspots that pose a threat for M-flares are AR1493 and AR1499

June 5-6 2012 Venus A Celestial Event HD

 
Au Revoir Venus a 2117
We'll see you again in 2117

June 4 2012 M3.3 CME and Plasma Ejection from Sunspot 1496 HD

 

Yesterday July 3^rd when I saw this “debris” ejecting from the sunspot’s M3.3 class solar flare, I showed the clip from 38starman to Dr. K. Strong and asked him if he knew what this was since I had never seen it before. He did know and this is what he said about those dark spots spewing from the sun:

more

“Yes, the "debris" is dense, relatively cool plasma (<50,000 K). It is so dense it absorbes all the light from behind it. However if you were to put it in the sky by itself it would be amazingly bright. It’s a contrast thing just like sunspots - they are 99% the brightness of the surface of the Sun yet appear dark by comparison”.

We might or we may not get some of that debris (plasma) coming our way, the verdict is not in yet. But I have a feeling we’ll get at least some of its taste. NOAA has already issued a 24-hr max: Kp= 5 geomagnetic storm forecast. It also means we’ll have some beautiful auroras I wouldn’t want to miss. As much as I wouldn’t want to miss Venus getting her golden ring when passing the sun tomorrow.

You all have a great day and thank you for watching.

June 3 2012 CME M3.3 Earth Bound Impacts SWAP & Spews Unknown Debris HD

  
Can Anyone Explain what the sun is Spewing out soon after it had a M3.3 CME and impacted SWAP?


Sans intentions to take the spotlight away from SunsFlare's specialties in finding peculiar objects but I saw this on my friend's video and had to ask what is this since I have never seen this before.
Today sunspot 1496 did have a CME class M3.3 and as you will see the satellite SWAP lens did get impacted but what are those black spots spewing out.
Judge for yourself.

You can see the video in its entirety on 38starman's link also posted in the information comment.
http://youtu.be/M9gO9GQQFIM

http://www.youtube.com/user/38starman

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9gO9GQQFIM&feature

Mercury the Messenger Greets Venus the Love Goddess HD

 
2 class C3 CMEs, one of which could give us a glancing blow. More details will come in update.

Mercury is heading away from the Sun, Venus toward it. In just a few days Venus will disappear behind that occulting disk and NASA SDO will pick up the Venus transit on June 5/6.
High above Earth, astronaut Don Pettit is about to become the first human to witness and photograph a transit of Venus from space. His images and commentary will be streamed to Earth during the crossing.
http://VenusTransit.gsfc.nasa.gov/

June 1 2012 Sunspots are Popping and One Gigantic Coronal Hole Growing B...

 

New Sunspots are still emerging with the existing sunspots crackling with activity.
A large coronal hole emerging over the sun's eastern limb is spewing solar wind, like a yawning dark fissure in the sun's atmosphere now turning toward Earth where the solar wind will head in Earth's direction and impact our geomagnetosphere around June 5th.

Sunspots generally group together in pairs to form the poles of solar magnets. One sunspot of each bipolar pair has positive ("north", or outward -directed) magnetic polarity. Its partner has the opposite negative ("south", or inward-directed) polarity. Notice that each spot group seems to contain red and blue members. Notice too that the groups are usually oriented roughly parallel to the Sun's equator.


Coronal holes are places where the sun's magnetic field opens up and allows the solar wind to escape. A stream of solar wind flowing from this coronal hole will reach Earth on June 5th - 7th, possibly stirring geomagnetic storms. High-latitude sky watchers should be alert for auroras.
Thanks you for watching and have a great weekend.