X-CLASS SOLAR FLARE: A large and potentially dangerous sunspot is turning toward Earth. This morning (Jan. 6th at 0057 UT) it unleashed an X-class solar flare and caused a shortwave radio blackout over the South Pacific Ocean. Given the size and apparent complexity of the active region, there’s a good chance the explosions will continue in the days ahead.
https://spaceweather.com/

Ydun Ritz (2023-01-06)

SIGNIFICANT FARSIDE EXPLOSION: A powerful explosion rocked the farside of the sun yesterday, hurling a bright CME over the edge of the solar disk. It may have been an X-class event. Helioseismic echoes suggest that the source of the blast is just behind the sun’s southeastern limb and could turn to face Earth later this week.
https://spaceweather.com

Ydun Ritz (2023-01-04)

A new, apparently large sunspot group is emerging over the sun’s eastern limb, right here. Even before it rotated into view, the sunspot produced multiple M-class flares partially eclipsed by the edge of the sun. Even stronger flares may be in the offing as the sunspot turns fully toward Earth.
https://spaceweather.com

Mike Terry to WOR iog (2022-12-30)

SOLAR ACTIVITY INTENSIFIES: After months of relative calm, the sun burst back into life yesterday with a remarkable series of M-class solar flares. The fusillade ionized the top of Earth’s atmosphere and caused a rolling global shortwave radio blackout.  If current trends continue, an X-flare may be in the offing, with at least one dangerous sunspot directly facing Earth. 
https://spaceweather.com/

Ydun Ritz (2022-12-15)

Today, there are nine distinct sunspot groups crossing the face of the sun–the greatest number so far during young Solar Cycle 25. This would seem to boost the odds of a solar flare. However, all nine sunspots have relatively stable magnetic fields disinclined to explode. Solar activity may remain low despite the high sunspot count.
https://spaceweather.com/

Ydun Ritz (2022-12-12)

A new sunspot (AR3153) is rotating over the sun’s southeastern limb, and it is a big one. NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) is seeing at least two dark cores significantly wider than Earth. The entire group is inset in this magnetic map of the sun’s surface taken by SDO during the early hours of Dec. 2nd.
https://spaceweather.com/

Mike Terry to WOR iog (2022-12-02)

Possible CME Impact.
A shock wave in the solar wind hit Earth’s magnetic field today, Nov. 25th, at approximately 0230 UT. It might have been the belated arrival of a CME that left the sun on Nov. 19th, hurled in our direction by an erupting filament of magnetism. So far the weak impact has not caused a geomagnetic storm.
https://spaceweather.com/

Mike Terry to WOR iog (2022-11-25)

GEOMAGNETIC STORM WATCH: NOAA forecasters say there is a chance of G1-class geomagnetic storms on Nov. 20th when a high-speed stream of solar wind is expected to hit Earth. The gaseous material is flowing from a large southern hole in the sun’s atmosphere. Arctic sky watchers should be alert for auroras.
https://spaceweather.com/

Ydun Ritz (2022-11-18)

Possible near-miss CME: A magnetic filament on the sun erupted Nov. 13th. The resulting CME might pass close to Earth later this week. The expected near-miss on Nov. 18th could spark geomagnetic unrest and auroras around the Arctic Circle. 
https://spaceweather.com/

Ydun Ritz (2022-11-15)

Sunspot Explodes Creating Huge Solar Flare, Radio Blackouts.
The Sun spat out a large solar flare from a sunspot early on Monday, leading to temporary radio blackouts in the Pacific Ocean.
Sunspot AR3141 exploded with an M5-class solar flare, which is fairly powerful, at 00:11 UTC (around 7 p.m. ET on Sunday).

“It’s alive! The Sun is up from its nap! An M5.2 flare came from AR3141 at the beginning of Nov. 7 at 00:11 UTC. Bring it on AR3141!! The radio blackout was over the Pacific,” wrote the The Sun Today: Solar Facts and Space Weather Facebook page in a post.

Solar flares are emissions of high-energy electromagnetic radiation, usually X-rays, from the Sun’s surface, often from more active sunspot regions.

“[M5-class flares are] pretty severe. It’s a bit like the ‘Gale force’ scale for earth winds. An M-class flare is 10 times as intense as the next scale down (C-class),” Huw Morgan, head of solar system physics at Aberystwyth University in the United Kingdom, told Newsweek.

Solar flares are sorted into five categories: X-class flares, M-class, C-class, B-class and A-class. A-, B- and C-class flares are generally small and don’t have any effect on the Earth, while M-class flares may lead to radio blackouts and minor geomagnetic storms.

X-class flares are huge, however, and can trigger planet-wide radio blackouts. Within each category, flares are rated by power, increasing by a factor of ten: an M5 storm is 10 times more powerful than an M4 storm, which is 10 times more powerful than an M3.

“However, it’s not just the intensity; it’s also the location of the flare on the Sun, as seen from Earth. So if you have a flare occurring at the right place on the Sun, it can have a more severe effect on Earth,” Morgan said.

The November 7 flare’s radiation ionized gas atoms in the Earth’s atmosphere, leading to the radio blackout in some areas of the Pacific, including parts of Australia and New Zealand.

The intense radiation from the flare causes the ionization of layers in Earth’s atmosphere, leading to X-rays knocking electrons out of the atoms in the atmosphere.

“The most striking feature of solar flares is that they produce intense bursts of X-rays and extreme ultraviolet (EUV) light that can then reach Earth at the speed of light. The EUV is absorbed high (100 to 300 km) in Earth’s atmosphere, enhancing the ionosphere and sometimes also the electric currents that flow in the ionosphere,” Mike Hapgood, a space weather scientist at Rutherford Appleton Laboratory Space, told Newsweek.

This ionization causes radio waves that interact with electrons to lose energy.

“But the X-rays can penetrate more deeply down to 60-90 km altitude where they produce an extra ionospheric layer that absorbs rather than reflects short-wave (aka high-frequency, 3-30 MHz) radio waves. It’s that absorption that causes the HF (high frequency) radio blackout, blocking HF radio reflections from higher layers that are used for some long-distance radio communications, e.g. by aircraft on routes over the oceans, also military comms,” Hapgood said.

“The blackout is limited to the dayside of the Earth and worst where the Sun is overhead. It typically lasts a few tens of minutes, so can be worked around on, say, long flights. Aircraft don’t use HF for take-off and landing—they would use short-range VHF radio (30-300 MHz) not affected by flares.”

This ionization causes radio waves that interact with electrons to lose energy.

“But the X-rays can penetrate more deeply down to 60-90 km altitude where they produce an extra ionospheric layer that absorbs rather than reflects short-wave (aka high-frequency, 3-30 MHz) radio waves. It’s that absorption that causes the HF (high frequency) radio blackout, blocking HF radio reflections from higher layers that are used for some long-distance radio communications, e.g. by aircraft on routes over the oceans, also military comms,” Hapgood said.

“The blackout is limited to the dayside of the Earth and worst where the Sun is overhead. It typically lasts a few tens of minutes, so can be worked around on, say, long flights. Aircraft don’t use HF for take-off and landing—they would use short-range VHF radio (30-300 MHz) not affected by flares.”
https://www.newsweek.com/solar-flare-sunspot-radio-blackouts-pacific-ocean-1757421?piano_t=1

Mike Terry to WOR iog