THE GEMINID METEOR SHOWER IS UNDERWAY: Right now, Earth is passing through a stream of debris from 3200 Phaethon, source of the annual Geminid meteor shower. Dark sky observers are currently reporting as many as 90 meteors per hour. If it's dark where you live, go outside and look; high rates are expected for another 12+ hours. More: Observing tips; sky map; photo gallery.
STRONGEST FLARE OF THE CURRENT SOLAR CYCLE: Sunspot 3514 erupted on Dec. 14th (1702 UT), producing a strong X2.8-class solar flare. This is the strongest flare of Solar Cycle 25 (so far) and the most powerful eruption the sun has produced since the great storms of Sept. 2017. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory recorded the extreme ultraviolet flash:
Radiation from the flare has caused a deep shortwave radio blackout over the Americas: blackout map. Ham radio operators may have noticed loss of signal at all frequencies below 30 MHz for more than 30 minutes after the flare.
It's too soon to know for sure, but this explosion probably launched a fast coronal mass ejection (CME) with an Earth-directed component. The US Air Force is reporting a Type II solar radio burst, which typically comes from the leading edge of a CME. Based on the drift rate of the radio burst, the emerging CME's velocity could exceed 2100 km/s (4.7 million mph). Stay tuned for confirmation. Solar flare alerts: SMS Text
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