CORONAL HOLE: A vast dark gap in the sun's atmosphere--a.k.a. a "coronal hole" --is rotating onto the Earthside of the sun. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory photographed the emerging structure on July 21st:

Coronal holes are places where the sun's magnetic field opens up and allows the sun's atmosphere to boil away. The escaping gas forms a stream of solar wind. This coronal hole is perfectly positioned near the sun's equator to create a geoeffective stream--in other words, the solar wind stream will hit Earth directly. ETA: July 27 or 28. High latitude sky watchers should be alert for auroras on those dates.

IndianaBoys

July 22, 2012 AROUND THE BEND? The Earth-facing side of the sun is mostly blank and quiet. This could change in the days ahead as a new sunspot emerges over the sun's southeastern limb. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory can see the active region's magnetic canopy, which is towering over the limb in advance of the sunspot itself.

The core of the active region should show itself no later than Tuesday. Meanwhile, solar activity is low. NOAA forecasters estimate a mere 1% chance of M- or X-class solar flares.

IndianaBoys

VERY FAST FARSIDE CME:

A coronal mass ejection (CME) blasted away from the sun this morning with rare speed: 2930 km/s or 6.5 million mph. CMEs moving this fast occur only once every ~5 to 10 years. The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory recorded the cloud's emergence on July 23rd starting around 0300 UT.

The source of the CME was sunspot AR1520, which sparked many bright auroras earlier this montth when it was on the Earthside of the sun. Now, however, the active region is transiting the sun's farside so this blast was not geoeffective. One can only imagine the geomagnetic storms such a fast CME could produce if it were heading our way.

IndianaBoys

MAGNETIC BRIDGE: Sunspots AR1528 and AR1529 appear to be far apart. More than 200,000 km of stellar surface separate the two. Nevertheless, they are connected by a tubular bridge of magnetism. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) photographed the vast structure on July 24th.

This extreme ultraviolet image traces the bridge via the glow of hot plasma it contains. Material can flow back and forth inside the tube, allowing one sunspot to respond to what the other is doing.

Researchers once thought that sunspots were independent operators, but SDO has shown over and over again that widely-spaced sunspots can be linked. An eruption in one can set off an explosion in another, leading to a chain reaction that can spread around the circumference of the sun.

IndianaBoys

beautiful picture IndianaBoys

MM - I have to agree -

IB - Thank YOU so much for you attention to this. My sweetheart and I for the past couple of years have been looking at some of the pictures and once in a while copying them onto our harddrive. I find them to be natures expression of what is going on the the magnetic and electric world. It is about paying attention to these systems.

Sadly - many never see the beauty or are even curious to look.

Cheers

MonsieurM and Wizofid,

Admiring the beauty and connecting with the level of conscious that stands behind all of creation is truly an amazing experience that is available to all.

Thanks for acknowledging your interest and sharing in this.

IndianaBoys

M-CLASS FLARE: Newly-emerging sunspot AR1532 unleashed an M2.7-class solar flare on July 27th at approximately 1726 UT. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory captured the extreme ultraviolet flash.

The explosion does not appear to have produced a substantial CME (Coronal Mass Ejection). Even if it did, Earth is not in the line of fire. This sunspot will, however, become more geoeffective in the days ahead as it slowly turns toward Earth. Stay tuned for updates.

The Classification of X-ray Solar Flares

Spaceweather Glossary: The Classification of X-ray Solar Flares

IndianaBoys

IndianaBoys

HERE'S some good reading if your bored.

Thank you IndianaBoys .... as usual always a pleasure reading your posts

IndianaBoys

M6-CLASS FLARE: Solar activity is picking up. For the second day in a row, sunspot AR1532 has unleashed a moderately-strong solar flare. The latest, an M6-class eruption, occurred on July 28th at 2056 UT. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory captured the extreme UV flash.

It is too soon to say if the eruption produced a coronal mass ejection (CME). If it did, Earth would likely receive no more than a glancing blow from the cloud. The sunspot is too far off disk center to be very geoeffective. This could change in the days ahead, however, as the sunspot turns toward Earth.





IndianaBoys

Magnetic field lines between two active regions extended across about one-third of the Sun to make their connections (July 23-24, 2012). The magnetically powerful active regions were just rotating into view, giving us a wonderful profile of their activity. The lower active region also spurts out several bursts of plasma as well. The looping arcs above each active region shows off the field lines nicely too.

Powerful M7.7-class solar flare! (July 19, 2012)
Powerful M7.7-class solar flare! (July 19, 2012) - YouTube

IndianaBoys

PS: - Very impressive video of the sun

AIA 131 (2012-07-18 23:30:57 - 2012-07-19 22:40:57 UTC)
AIA 131 (2012-07-18 23:30:57 - 2012-07-19 22:40:57 UTC) - YouTube

IndianaBoys

PS: - Very impressive video of the sun

RIPPING PERSEID: As Earth enters a broad stream of debris from Comet Swift-Tuttle, more and more Perseid meteors are appearing in the night sky. "Last night, I captured a Perseid fireball ripping through the ionosphere over New Mexico," reports amateur astronomer Thomas Ashcraft. "It was traveling pretty fast - 133,000 miles per hour!"

At the moment, Perseid meteor rates are low--no more than about 10 per hour. In the days ahead, however, Earth will plunge deeper into the comet's debris stream, and meteor activity will increase accordingly. Forecasters expect the shower to peak on August 12-13 with as many as 100+ meteors per hour visible from dark-sky sites.

Will we be able to any of the meteor showers here in Wa. State?

Thanks

Hi bhaas,

This should answer that for you:

The next meteor shower is the Perseids on the night of August 11
2012 Meteor Showers | StarDate Online

Thanks for asking,

IndianaBoys

ERUPTING MAGNETIC FILAMENT
A filament of magnetism connecting sunspots AR1538 and AR1540 rose up and erupted on August 4th.

As the filament ripped through the sun's atmosphere, it propelled a massive CME into space. The expanding cloud does not appear to be on a collision course with Earth, although a glancing blow might be possible 2 to 3 days hence.

IndianaBoys

thank you IndianaBoys

MonsieurM,

You are welcome!

Thanks for posting the Sun Flare Activity Report.

It corelates with the aboove movie.

IndianaBoys

just a head's up

Sun today — solar flares online

Monsieur,

Thanks for posting this.

Also of interest is:

Amateur astronomers around the world are monitoring a gigantic filament of magnetism on the sun. If one end of the filament were on Earth, the other end would reach all the way to the Moon. The dimensions of the structure make it an easy target for amateur solar telescopes. Richard Fleet sends this picture from his backyard observatory in Wiltshire, England.

This filament is filled with billions of tons of plasma, yet it has remained suspended above the surface of the sun for days. Such a massive structure, buffeted as it is by winds and currents in the sun's atmosphere, is unlikely to remain stable much longer. If the filament collapses, it could crash into the surface of the sun and spark a powerful type of explosion called a Hyder flare. Amateur astronomers are encouraged to monitor developments.

Hyder Flare
IPS - The Sun and Solar Activity - Hyder Flares

IndianaBoys

One rather small active region popped off no fewer than 15 minor flares over 18 hours (July 30-31, 2102). The activity of diminutive sunspot AR1538 is a sign of tension in the region's magnetic field. The active region show to the right also contributed another three flares during the same time period. The images were taken in a wavelength of extreme ultraviolet light.



Solar flares today July 31, 2012
Today, 12 solar flares were observed:

Active region Begin, UT Max, UT End, UT
Flare of class C1.8 1532 01:48:00 01:51:00 01:54:00
Flare of class C1.0 1536 03:28:00 03:34:00 03:35:00
Flare of class C1.1 1535 09:35:00 09:40:00 09:57:00
Flare of class C5.7 1535 10:46:00 11:30:00 12:26:00
Flare of class C5.0 0 14:17:00 14:25:00 14:30:00
Flare of class C1.6 1536 15:10:00 15:15:00 15:22:00
Flare of class C1.3 1538 15:54:00 16:02:00 16:07:00
Flare of class C4.0 1536 17:10:00 17:27:00 17:32:00
Flare of class C1.2 1535 19:25:00 19:30:00 19:35:00
Flare of class C2.4 1528 21:59:00 22:05:00 22:08:00
Flare of class C1.3 1538 23:29:00 23:33:00 23:36:00
Flare of class C1.3 1536 23:54:00 23:59:00 00:04:00

Solar flares yesterday July 30, 2012
Yesterday, 14 solar flares were observed:

Active region Begin, UT Max, UT End, UT
Flare of class C1.5 1528 00:47:00 00:54:00 01:01:00
Flare of class C1.1 1532 01:49:00 01:53:00 01:56:00
Flare of class C2.4 1528 04:16:00 04:24:00 04:28:00
Flare of class C1.3 0 05:14:00 05:17:00 05:21:00
Flare of class C4.0 0 06:03:00 06:12:00 06:22:00
Flare of class C2.4 0 07:06:00 07:10:00 07:16:00
Flare of class C1.6 0 07:54:00 07:58:00 08:01:00
Flare of class C2.1 1528 08:21:00 08:26:00 08:31:00
Flare of class C2.3 0 10:28:00 10:35:00 10:41:00
Flare of class C1.5 1532 11:04:00 11:07:00 11:09:00
Flare of class C8.8 1532 13:55:00 14:03:00 14:05:00
Flare of class M1.1 1536 15:39:00 15:48:00 15:53:00
Flare of class C1.8 1526 23:10:00 23:18:00 23:28:00
Flare of class C6.3 1538 23:50:00 23:50:00 00:04:00

Thanks for all the wonderful pics and information, very much appreciated- Im loving it IBs
Such beautiful phenomenon
S

wow ....... .... Impressive IndianaBoys

IndianaBoys , is there a way to see if the solar triangle is still visible .... and if so where the filament would be relative to the solar triangle


would be curious to see that

here is a nice website to find the coordinates (maybe ) of the solar triangle and the solar snake

Solar Rotation

One Half Million Mile Filament

A very long, whip-like solar filament extended about half a million miles in long arc above the Sun's surface (Aug. 6-8, 2012). The image shows the filament as a darker strand that has been in view for several days. Filaments are cooler clouds of gas that are tethered above the Sun's surface by unstable magnetic forces.



IndianaBoys