Small CME impact

Earth received a "gentle tap" this afternoon when a piece of Sun glanced off our magnetic field. While probably not strong enough to cause low latitude aurorae, the CME impact was picked up by my magnetometer. Below is a snapshot from my x axis sensor with the impact clearly visible. Remember live data can be seen at www.davegradwell.com/magnetometer.html

Dave Gradwell

Big M9 solar flare

The Sun unleashed one of the biggest flares of the year this evening. An M9 class flare (next size up is the biggest type - X) erupted off the SE edge of the solar disc. It was large enough to break through the post sunset ionosphere here in Birr and disrupt the VLF radio signal from Cutler, Maine. These size flares are rare and maybe a sign of an active sunspot turning to face Earth. Below is a plot from my solar flare monitor. Live data (during daytime hours) is available at www.davegradwell.com/solarflares.html

Dave Gradwell

More Aurora images

Heres some more shots from that nice display earlier in the week

Click on them to see a bigger scale. Theyre also availible from my website www.davegradwell.com/images.html. These are featured on a bbc online story about this display


Dave Gradwell

Activity subsides

After the excitement of the night geomagnetic activity is on the wane. You can see how the Earth's magnetic field shook well into the early hours as picked up by my magnetometer

Dave Gradwell

Aurora Observed!!!

First aurora in years more to follow still out imaging.......

Dave Gradwell

CME impact sparks high latitude aurora

A CME impacted Earth at 5am (UT) this morning, sparking some geomagnetic activity, heres a plot from my magnetometer.

Stay tuned to www.davegradwell.com/magnetometer.html for current data as if activity continues we may see aurorae tonight

Dave Gradwell

A gentle CME impact

The CME impact of the 30th was felt by my magnetometer. The graph shows the y axis displacement, and while they are obvious on the graph chances are, from Ireland any low level aurora would be wash out by the harvest Moon.

Dave Gradwell