CME - Moment of impact

The graph below shows the moment when a piece of the Sun hit the Earth earlier today. Picked up by my magnetometer, it shows how the Earths magnetic field shook from the impact. This called a sudden impulse. On my live data page www.davegradwell.com/magnetometer.html it appears as a tiny "nick" at about 17:30UT.  This may signify some aurora later.

Dave Gradwell

Low level aurora visible

Earth is entering a medium speed solar wind which has sparked off auroral display across northern Europe. At present northern lights have been seen as far south as the north coast of Ireland. Keep checking my magnetometer www.davegradwell.com/magnetometer.html and my new HAMCam www.davegradwell.com/hamcam.html for signs of aurora.

Dave Gradwell

Introducing HAMCam

A project I'm calling High Atmosphere Monitoring Camera. This will monitor the northern
horizon 24 hrs a day. It uses sebectecs neat webcam software that among other things
knows when to change to nighttime long exposures. The camera will monitor for aurora and noctillucent
cloud during the night and will be a weather cam during the day. Tests are still ongoing and it's final positioning has yet to be decided so it will be "on and off" over the next few weeks. www.davegradwell.com/hamcam.html

DaveG

Welcome to 2013 - M1.7 flare

The Sun belatedly welcomed in the new year with some fireworks of its own. A large M1.7 flare was released today at 09:30 UT and was picked up by my solar flare monitor. Hopefully this will be a sign of increased activity. The Sun has been extremely quiet of late prompting some solar astronomers to say that solar maximum has already peaked.

Dave Gradwell