GEOMAGNETIC STORM WATCH (G1): Multiple CMEs have left the sun this week, perhaps more than a dozen. The majority are on a trajectory due south of Earth. If the edge of even one grazes Earth's magnetic field, it could spark a G1-class geomagnetic storm. Potential impacts could begin on April 25th. CME impact alerts: SMS Text
SIMULTANEOUS SOLAR FLARES: What are the odds? Yesterday, April 23rd (0330 UT), NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory detected four simultaneous explosions from widely-separated areas on the sun. Play the movie and pay attention to the circled areas:
The quadruple blast included three sunspots (small circles) and a magnetic filament (big circle), all erupting within minutes of one another hundreds of thousands of kilometers apart. (The filament eruption is more obvious in this 304 Å movie.) Their combined X-ray output added up to category M3.4.
Events like this are called "sympathetic solar flares"--that is, pairs of sunspots erupting at the same time even though they are far apart. Long ago, researchers assumed sympathetic flares must be a freak coincidence, but a 2002 study proved otherwise. Some sunspots are linked by nearly-invisible magnetic loops in the sun's corona. Instabilities can rapidly travel from one to another, creating a chain reaction of explosions.
Yesterday's sympathetic flare was not a simple pair but a complex quartet covering much of the sun's Earth-facing hemisphere. It is reminiscent of the Great Eruption of August 1, 2010, which included more than a dozen shock waves, flares, and filament eruptions spanning 180 degrees of solar longitude.
Will any of the debris hit Earth? SOHO coronagraph images of the blast are now available, but the results are unclear. Many faint overlapping CMEs can be seen leaving the sun in the hours after the quadruple eruption. If any are heading our way (a big IF), they would arrive on or about April 26th. CME impact alerts: SMS Text
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A FAR-OUT MOTHER'S DAY GIFT: Mother's Day is less than 3 weeks away. Are you looking for a far-out gift? Mom will love Snoopy at the Edge of Space. Here is the hand-crafted figurine floating 112,505 feet above Earth's surface on Jan. 30, 2024:
You can have it for $159.95. The students of Earth to Sky Calculus launched the figurine to the stratosphere onboard a cosmic ray research balloon. It spent more than 2 hours floating at the top of Earth's atmosphere while cosmic ray sensors gathered data. Snoopy had a wild ride, and the students got great data for their atmospheric radiation monitoring program.
Far Out Gifts: Earth to Sky Store
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