Keith Strong@drkstrong·13h

CORONAL HOLE ALERT: There is a tiny coronal hole on the solar equator near sun Center, it probably will not be an issue. In the south there is a large CH just east of the central meridian which should not be an issue but last time contributed in part to a major geomagnetic storm.

Keith Strong@drkstrong·10h

THE SUN TODAY:

1) SSN still at 100, area up slightly to 770.

2) No significant flares (>C5) in the last day.

3) Possibly a new region behind the SE limb

4) Note the huge prominence off the NW polar region, I still think that is going to erupt.

5) Three new minor spot regions (white)

4h

VINDICTATED (at least)! I have been saying for days (see previous tweets) that this part of the northern polar crown filament is about to erupt. I was beginning to doubt it, but it just decided to do so - quite spectacularly. Enjoy!

Keith Strong@drkstrong·7h

Two large sunspots rotating onto the visible disk in the SE. Each one is larger than the Earth.

Keith Strong
@drkstrong
·
5h
THE SUN TODAY: Activity dropping.

1) SSN slightly higher at 110 but area down to 520 mil.

2) No significant (>C5) flares yesterday

3) Some new regions popping up but apart from the 2 big spots on the SE limb which dont seem very active (see earlier tweet) they wont amount to much

Keith Strong@drkstrong·6h

HALO CME Following the recent M flare (earlier tweet).
This is a difference image, 2 photos taken 15 mins apart. The earlier one is taken from the more recent one, so anywhere that is lighter has brightened and anywhere that id darker has faded. The bright ring is the halo CME.

·
2h

Here comes the Halo Coronal Mass Ejection (see earlier tweets) - it looks like it will hit us on the 24th April. It is likely to produce a moderate geomagnetic storm of at least a G2 (Kp=6).

17h

Here we see the CME after the flare. The flare explodes and disrupts nearby coronal structures. After a delay a faint halo appears around the Sun, that's a CME heading straight for us. Nothing to worry about, its only a modest event. If it was an X flare - thats a differnet story

Keith Strong@drkstrong·8h

THE SUN TODAY: 

1) SSN at 110, area at 630 mil.

2) A spectacular M flare (see earlier tweets) plus a C5 flare this morning all from the decaying complex in the SW.

3) Nothing exciting coming over the E limb today.

4) A newly numbered sunspot group, AR3285. Several tiny new spots.

Keith Strong@drkstrong

CME WATCH -2023.04.22: We start with a moderate, fast CME off the W limb. Then the halo CME (See earlier tweets) followed by a much brighter and slower CME off the W limb. Almost simultaneously a bubble CME off the E limb erupts.

Keith Strong@drkstrong·Apr 24

GEOMAGNETIC STORM INTENSIFIES! It is now a G4 (severe) storm accompanied by a proton event. Possible problems with the power grid especially at high latitudes. HF radio  interference, satellite navigation problems, aurora seen as far south as Alabama.

Keith Strong@drkstrong·23h

Geomagnetic Storm: WE are still at a G4 level, but the Kp has dropped to 7.5. You can see how far south the auroral arc has moved and how intense it is. Look north for flickering green and or red lights in the sky.

Keith Strong
14h

GEOMAGNETIC STORM CONTINUES:   The geomagnetic has been going for nearly a day although beginning to decay. Bz is still negative (just). The solar wind density jumped by a factor of 10 to 10/cc. Its speed at times was >700 km/s and the ionization temperature was nearly 300,000 K.