GEOMAGNETIC STORM WATCH (UPDATED): Improved models of yesterday's X5-class CME suggest the storm cloud will merely graze Earth on Jan. 2nd. However, even a grazing impact from such a powerful explosion can cause a geomagnetic storm. A G2-class storm watch remains in effect. CME impact alerts: SMS Text
MAJOR X-CLASS SOLAR FLARE: Mere hours after emerging over the sun's eastern limb on Dec. 31st, big sunspot AR3536 erupted, producing a major X5-class solar flare. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) recorded the extreme ultraviolet flash:
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.
Radiation from the flare has caused a deep shortwave radio blackout over the Pacific Ocean: blackout map. Mariners and ham radio operators may have noticed loss of signal at all frequencies below 30 MHz for more than 60 minutes after the flare's peak (2155 UT).
The explosion also caused a solar tsunami. The blast wave can be seen in this animation from SDO:
Solar tsunamis are closely linked to CMEs. Indeed, coronagraph images from the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) show a CME emerging from the blast site.
Normally we would expect a CME leaving the sun's extreme-eastern limb to have no Earth-directed component. This case appears to be different. According to NASA and NOAA model, the CME will graze our planet Jan. 2nd, bringing a chance of G2-class geomagnetic storms. CME impact alerts: SMS Text
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AMBER DRAGONFLY SPACE PENDANT: This dragonfly has touched space. On Nov. 28th, the students of Earth to Sky Calculus launched it to the stratosphere onboard a cosmic ray research balloon, 109,228 feet above California's Sierra Nevada:
You can have it for $179.95. Made of genuine Baltic Amber with a sterling silver exoskeleton, the pendant measures 1 1/4 inch and comes with a matching 18-inch sterling silver chain. The wings of the dragonfly include four pieces of natural amber colored Cognac, Olive Green and Honey Yellow.
The students are selling space pendants to pay the helium bill for their cosmic ray ballooning program. Each one comes with a greeting card showing the jewelry in flight and telling the story of its trip to the stratosphere and back again.
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