SpaceWeather.com Archive — Fri, Sep 13, 2024

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A NEW SOURCE OF SOLAR FLARES: A large and complex sunspot just emerged over the sun's southeastern limb. Yesterday, it produced an X1.3-class solar flare even before the underlying sunspot was fully revealed. Any flares this weekend will be Earth-directed. Solar flare alerts: SMS Tex t

A 24 HOUR GEOMAGNETIC STORM: A CME hit Earth's magnetic field on Sept. 12th (03:50 UTC). The impact sparked a 24 hour geomagnetic storm. At the apex of the event, Göran Strand photographed a rainbow-outburst of auroras over Östersund, Sweden:

Last night was just crazy good with some really colorful and strong Northern Lights," says Strand. "Fingers crossed that we get another night like this tonight."

He might get his wish. NOAA's forecast model predicts another CME impact on Sept 13th, and another on Sept. 14th. Their combined effect could re-energise the storm to category G2 or higher.

24 hours of geomagnetic storms spanning Sept. 12th and 13th

During the storm on Sept. 12th, auroras were seen and photographed at latitudes as low as +37N. Check out these photos from Virginia, Colorado, California and New Mexico. Aurora alerts: SMS Tex t

Realtime Aurora Photo Gallery
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"HAND OF APOLLO" STAR TREK CHRISTMAS ORNAMENT: You can't buy this on Amazon. The Hand of Apollo Christmas Ornament is only available from the Earth to Sky Store. On Aug. 15, 2024, it flew to the stratosphere onboard a cosmic ray research balloon:

You can have it for $127.95. This ornament depicts the iconic opening scene from original Star Trek series episode "Who Mourns for Adonais?" first aired in 1967. Near the planet Pollux III, the Enterprise was held immobile by an energy field shaped as a human hand. It belonged to a being claiming to be the Greek god Apollo. This will look far out on your Christmas tree this December.

The students of Earth to Sky Calculus are selling space ornaments to support their cosmic ray ballooning program. Don't wait for Christmas--get yours now!