SpaceWeather.com Archive — Mon, Jul 1, 2024

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3RD OF JULY FIREWORKS: NOAA forecasters say that G1-class geomagnetic storms are possible on July 3rd when this CME is expected to graze Earth's magnetic field. The approaching CME was hurled into space by an erupting magnetic filament in the sun's southern hemisphere. Aurora alerts: SMS Tex t

IT LOOKS LIKE SOLAR MAX: The first six months of 2024 are in the books. Amateur astronomer Eduardo Schaberger Poupeau stacked daily sun images for all 182 days, and it looks like Solar Max:

"Since the beginning of 2024, the sun has increased its activity," says Poupeau. "The presence of so many sunspots is a clear indication that we are close to the maximum activity of Solar Cycle 25."

This composite image shows us two things. First, sunspots are concentrated in two bands, one north and one south of the sun's equator. As the solar cycle unfolds, these two bands will converge on the equator, eventually meeting and extinguishing themselves in a collision of opposite-polarity magnetic fields. Solar Maximum will be replaced by Solar Minimum.

Second, the southern hemisphere is spottier than the north. This is not unusual; sometimes one hemisphere dominates the other for months at a time. In this case, sunspot counts were skewed by a single massive southern sunspot (AR3664), which circled the sun three times, tripling its contribution to the southern total.

Solar Max is far from over. Forecasters expect it to persist for 2 to 3 years, and we are just getting started. Stay tuned!

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THIS PENDANT HAS TOUCHED THE SHADOW OF THE MOON: On April 8, 2024, the students of Earth to Sky Calculus launched a cosmic ray research balloon directly into a total eclipse of the sun. This handmade pendant went along for the ride. Floating more than 118,110 feet above the path of totality in Texas, the necklace spent 3 minutes and 45 seconds wrapped in the shadow of the Moon:

You can have it for $149.95. Created by an artist in Texas where the balloon was launched, the pendant displays a solar eclipse art print sealed under a smooth glass cover. It comes with a greeting card showing the pendant in flight and telling the story of its journey to the edge of space during the total eclipse.