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A sprawling, magnetically tangled sunspot let loose an M7 flare and a run of CMEs, prompting a G2 storm watch whose aurora timing may or may not line up with this week's partial lunar eclipse.
Read the story →A filament eruption on the Sun has launched a coronal mass ejection toward Earth, and NOAA forecasters expect a glancing blow late Aug. 17 that could push aurora into the northern-tier U.S. and similar latitudes down south.
After a Kp 6 storm lit up Scotland-latitude skies on August 8, NOAA's new forecast calls G1 storming likely on August 12 — the same day as the Greenland-Iceland-Spain total eclipse and the Perseids' ramp-up — raising the improbable prospect of auroras during totality.
Two glancing-blow CMEs and a new M1.9 flare have NOAA forecasting a 25-30% chance of minor G1 geomagnetic storming August 1-2, with best US viewing odds in the northern tier — though a near-full Moon will blunt the show.
A central-meridian filament blast and a far-side prominence erupted in near-perfect sync on July 28, while AR4494 kept flaring and a G1 storm carried over from an incoming CME due July 30.
Sunspot AR4494 threw an M3.2 flare on July 26 while regions 4495 and 4496 added C-class pops. Earth's magnetic field stayed quiet, but forecasters put the odds at 45% for another M-flare and 10% for an X-flare over the next 24-48 hours.
New sunspot AR4493 fired an M3.4 flare and 17 others in 24 hours as a fast coronal-hole wind stream heads for Earth, setting up a G1 geomagnetic storm and aurora chances July 21-22.
A House subcommittee grilled the Office of Space Commerce on its plan for a single opt-in "Space Commerce Certification" to fast-track approval of orbital manufacturing, satellite servicing, and lunar ventures that fall outside FAA and FCC authority.
Weeks after an X-class flare sparked aurora across 30 US states, NOAA's July 15 snapshot shows 36 tame sunspots, a mild C3 flare, and just quiet-to-minor storm odds — a reminder that solar weather swings fast.
Departing sunspot AR4485 unleashed an M1.2 flare and a radio blackout before rotating off the disk, while a trailing coronal mass ejection could nudge Earth's geomagnetic field to G1 storm levels late this week.
Sunspot AR4482 fired off an M4.0 flare and a major filament eruption on July 7, and with a coronal-hole wind stream and CME now converging on Earth, forecasters give mid-to-high latitudes a real shot at aurora through the weekend.
Active region AR4482, a magnetically tangled beta-gamma-delta sunspot, has been lobbing M-class flares at Earth since July 8, and NOAA gives it decent odds of another one through July 11 — with a side of aurora from an incoming solar wind stream.
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