CME IMPACT TODAY--UPDATED: Another CME struck Earth's magnetic field today. It arrived on May 17th at 1311 UT, causing a minor 11 nT jolt on USGS magnetometers in Boulder, Colorado. The weak impact overperformed as it sparked a G2-class geomagnetic storm. Using their phones, high-latitude observers may be able to record auroras with nightsky photo settings after sunset. Aurora alerts: SMS Text
STRONG SOLAR FLARE: New sunspot AR3685 erupted today (May 17th at 2108 UT), producing a strong M7-class solar flare. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory photographed the explosion:
This follows an X3-flare (movie) from the same sunspot on May 15th. Neither of these flares was squarely Earth-directed because of the sunspot's location near the sun's SE limb. The geometry is changing, though. Next week, eruptions from AR3685 will target our planet. Solar flare alerts: SMS Text
Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery
Free: Spaceweather.com Newsletter
RARE SOUTH PACIFIC AURORAS CONFIRM 'GREAT STORM': On the south Pacific island of New Caledonia, no one expects to see auroras. Ever. Situated about halfway between Tonga and Australia, the cigar-shaped island is too close to the equator for Northern or Southern Lights. Yet on May 10, 2024, this happened:
"I have rarely been so happy when taking a photo!" says Frédéric Desmoulins, who photographed the display from Boulouparis in the island's south province. "I could see the red color of the auroras with my naked eye. According to the New Caledonian Astronomy Society, these photos are the first for this territory."
"The auroral visibility from New Caledonia is really unique and extremely valuable," says Hisashi Hayakawa, a space weather researcher at Japan's Nagoya University. "As far as we know, the last time sky watchers saw auroras in the area was during the Carrington Event of Sept. 1859, when auroras were sighted from a ship in the Coral Sea."
Hayakawa specializes in historical studies of great auroral storms. He tries to go back in time as far as possible. The problem is, magnetometers and modern sensors didn't exist hundreds or thousands of years ago. Instead, he looks for records of aurora sightings in old newspapers, diaries, ships logs, even cuneiform tablets. Great Storms are identified by their low latitude--anything with naked-eye auroras below 30° MLAT (magnetic latitude).
"May 10th was definitely a Great Storm," declares Hayakawa. "Naked-eye auroras sightings in New Caledonia (MLAT = -26.4°) and Puerto Rico (MLAT = 27.2°) confirm this in both hemispheres."
Note: This is a figure modified from Hayakawa et al. (2024).
In fact, it is among the top 20 Great Storms of the past 500 years. The above timeline from a research paper by Hayakawa has been modified to display the May 10th event. It is the green dot on the far-right end of the timeline.
This isn't just an arcane historical curiosity. "We need to know about Great Storms of the past to understand how big storms might become today," explains Hayakawa. "Our modern technological society depends upon it."
Readers, if you witnessed auroras at low latitudes on May 10th, please submit your photos to our gallery and fill out this questionnaire from Hayakawa. Your observations may be included in a future research paper about this extreme storm.
Realtime Aurora Photo Gallery
Free: Spaceweather.com Newsletter
18K GOLD TOTAL ECLIPSE PENDANT: This pendant has touched the shadow of the Moon. On April 8, 2024, during a total eclipse of the sun in Texas, the students of Earth to Sky Calculus launched it to the stratosphere onboard a cosmic ray research balloon. Floating more than 118,110 feet high, the locket spent 3 minutes and 45 seconds wrapped in lunar shadow:
You can have it for $199.95. The 18K gold-plated locket is inscribed with the words "I love you to the Moon and back," and opens to hold a personal photo or other small item. It comes with a greeting card showing the locket in flight and telling the story of its journey to the edge of space during the total eclipse.
Far Out Gifts: Earth to Sky Store
All sales support hands-on STEM education
Realtime Comet Photo Gallery
Free: Spaceweather.com Newsletter
Realtime Space Weather Photo Gallery
Free: Spaceweather.com Newsletter