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

Huge active region, X class flare, CME on the way!

Massive Sun spot group 1520 is one of the biggest of this cycle. As well as this it unleashed a huge X class flare on the 13th. This flare hurled a piece of Sun towards the Earth (coronal mass ejection or CME) which should impact about 9:15UT on Saturday 14th. This should spark displays of northern lights. My solar flare monitor captured the flare as it hit the Earth's atmosphere. Hours earlier I imaged the group with my hydrogen alpha and white light telescopes.

Dave Gradwell

Continued strong activity

The Sun continues to release large flares. For 6 days in a row numerous high energy  M sized flares are being volleyed off the Sun.  Every bump on the graph shows a flare. Its expected that the largest type (X flare) may be unleashed in the next few days

Dave Gradwell

July 4th fireworks

Sunspot complex 1513 to 1515 is one of the most active of this solar cycle. Today's trace from my solar flare monitor looks like a rough sea. Numerous large flares have erupted during the day, only the larger M type flares have been labelled, but anything that looks like a "bump" is a solar flare.

Dave Gradwell

CME impact last night

The impact of a CME was felt here in Birr last night. Small magnetic disturbances occured shortly after 3bst (2UT) until about 7bst. Cloud covered most of the country and there are no reports of aurora as yet. The sudden commencement point marks the probable initial impact of the CME.

Dave Gradwell

Sunspot 1476 and a nice prominence

 A quiet day today for big sunspot 1476. I did manage to get an image of it though. Conditions weren't great with a strong wind and a turbulent atmosphere. Both taken with my 120mm achromat and pst etalon.

Dave Gradwell

1476 continues to flare

Huge sunspot 1476 continues to release many flares including 2 M class today. Unfortunately they came outside of the window of my solar flare monitor. However it did capture a volley of smaller C class flares during the day.

On the magnetic side there is an event happening as I speak but a north polarity solar wind means little chance of activity. We have been expecting 2 CMEs but as yet there is no confirmed data. Take a look at my magnetogram below, there are 2 small "nicks" in the curve, one after 13:00bst and one just after 20:00bst. These could be CME impact signatures called sudden impacts, but this is not verified.

Dave Gradwell