OUR SPOTTY SUN

HIGHEST SUNSPOT NUMBER IN 20 YEARS: The current daily sunspot number (270), a measure of solar activity, has reached its highest number since August 2002 (281). That was the peak of Solar Cycle 23. So much for those claiming we are in a Grand Solar Minimum!

CME WATCH - 2024.04.21: Seven CMEs recorded today by SOHO LASCO coronagraph. Most of the action seems to be in the SW near to the polar region, perhaps some from that repeating jet region (see earlier tweet). There is some minor activity of the NW limb too.

FLARE OF THE DAY: There were three M flares in the last 24 hours. The brightest of these was an M3.5 from sunspot region AR3638 in the SW part of the Sun peaking at 21:52 UT. Note it seems to set off another tiny flare, C3, to its southwest a few minutes later.

FLARE OF THE DAY - 2024-04-20: No real dominant flares but we had 12 C flares from various regions - see if you can spot them all. Images from SDO AIA 94A (6 MK). Note the new region coming over the SE limb - looks promising.

CME WATCH - 2024.04.20: Five CMEs registered by SOHO's LASCO coronagraph. After the two significant CMEs from yesterday, not a lot seems to be going on There are a couple of 'puffs' off the SW limb.

THE GEOMAGNETIC STORM INTENSIFIES: The storm (see earlier tweet) intensified to a G3 level (strong, kp=7) event with solar wind speeds approaching 500 km/s. My cause problems with satellite electronics and radio propagation. Expect some nice aurora at latitudes as low as 50 deg,

LARGE PROMINENCE DISAPPEARS OVER TWO DAYS: A large prominence lies closely along the SE limb of the Sun. It seems to groms slowly but gathers momentum, eventually flowing north and dissipating. Note that tiny region is still spewing jets (see earlier tweet).

CME WATCH - 2024.04.19: Soho reports 10 CMEs in the last 24 hrs. There is a large, faint event off the west limb early on. Then a bright, slow-moving CME off the SE limb followed almost immediately by a faster one directly off the east limb.

GEOMAGNETIC SOTRM IN PROGRESS: A series of small Coronal Mass ejections is brushing by Earth and causing a low-level geomagnetic storm (G1, Kp=5).

Sunspot Number Reaches 235 - the highest in at least 20 years.

FLARE OF THE DAY - 2024.04.18: WE had 3 M flares from the Sun today, the longest being a 6-hour long duration M1.6 flare that peaked at about 18:20 U.T.

CME WATCH - 2024.04.18: We had seven official CMEs today. Unfortunately, they were mostly small and relatively faint. Thye were distributed all around the Sun, with no particular area contributing more.

CORONAL JETS ON REPEAT: Note the tiny area near the top of the frame that is pumping out jet after jet. Some of them reach all the way to the southern limb (>300,000 km). Features like this are indicative of magnetic growth and may herald the appearance of a new sunspot region.

The 'Snake' Filament Erupts: The dark filament just south of the Sun's magnetic pole became unstable this morning and erupted. Watch carefully and to can see the formation of two bright ribbons on the Sun's surface, one mainly being caused by material falling back onto the Sun.

FLARE OF THE DAY: The Sun produced 12 C flares and 1 M flare today. The M1.6 flare was from active region AR3643 an peaked at 22:08 U.T. Note just below the region there is an emerging region that is causing multiple jets.

CME WATCH - 2024.04.17: SOHO reports 4 CMEs today but the corona looks more active than before. We have several eruptions off the southern and southern polar regions and the East limb. Note the 'S' shaped filament disappear near disk center in the north - corresponds to one event

THE VERY SPOTTY SUN. Note most of these spots are as big as the Earth.

SUNSPOT NUMBER TOPS 200! For only the third time this cycle (i.e., since January 2020)

GLOBAL CLIMATE REPORT: This is a percentiles map which shows record high (deep red) and record low (deep blue) temperatures for March 2024. Overall the oceans were the hottest on record and the land was 4th warmest. Note the warm Atlantic: why hurricane season forecast is so bad!