CHANCE OF FLARES TODAY: NOAA forecasters say there is a 30% chance of M-class solar flares today. That may be an underestimate. Yesterday, three different sunspots (AR3331, 37, 38) produced category M1 flares. The same three active regions appear capable of flaring again on June 17th. Solar flare alerts: SMS Text
CIR SPARKS G2-CLASS GEOMAGNETIC STORM: If you've never heard of a CIR, there's only one thing you really need to know: CIRs are good at making auroras. One hit Earth yesterday and lit up both ends of our planet--north and south. "The display in New Zealand was one for the ages," reports Ian Griffin from Hoopers Inlet on the Otago Peninsula:
"The aurora kept pulsing and, just as you thought it was going to end it exploded into life again," he says. "What a night!"
Short for "co-rotating interaction regions," CIRs are transition zones between fast- and slow-moving solar wind streams. Solar wind plasma piles up in these regions, producing shock-like structures that mimic CMEs. NOAA correctly predicted the arrival of a CIR on June 15th. Its impact opened a crack in our planet's magnetic field, fueling a G2-class geomagnetic storm that persisted through June 16th.
Because of the northern summer sun, Arctic observers couldn't see the show. Some auroras, however, did spill into darkness at lower latitudes. Jeff Berkes sends this photo from Cape Cod, Massachusetts:
"The lights were faint at first, then really juiced up around midnight," he says. "I could see these pillars with the naked eye from the Highland Lighthouse."
Did you miss the storm? Subscribers to our Space Weather Alert Service received an instant text message when the CIR arrived. It announced itself by the crack it formed in Earth's magnetic field. PRO PLAN subscribers were thus able to prepare for the subsequent geomagnetic storm.
more images: from Mark Staples flying over the North Atlantic; from Philip Granrud of Whitefish, Montana; from Kalyky of Custer County, Montana; from Didier Walliang of Quesnoy-le-Montant, France; from Jamie McBean of Herne Bay, Kent, UK; from Ian Carstairs of Harleston, Norfolk, UK;
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"I LOVE YOU FOREVER" MOONSTONE PENDANT: Are you looking for a far-out gift? Consider the "I Love You Forever" Moonstone. This one hitched a ride to the stratosphere onboard a cosmic ray research ballooin on May 13th:
You can have it for $162.95. The moonstone's sterling silver infinity wrap is inscribed with the words "I love you forever." It makes a great anniversary or birthday gift. The moonstone comes with a greeting card showing the pendant in flight, telling the story of its trip to the edge of space and back again.
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