~Space Weather Update~ Good Bye to Our Big Sunspot~

MENACE UNREALIZED: After more than a week of solar storm warnings, sunspot AR1476 is turning away from Earth with a mostly unblemished record of quiet. The decaying behemoth never lived up to its potential as a source of X-class solar flares. It did, however, make a great target for astrophotographers. Even now the sunspot is decorating sunsets around the world:

Russ Vallelunga took the picture on May 14th from Papago Park in Phoenix, Arizona. "Wildfires around the Phoenix metropolitan area led to a dim setting sun," says Vallelunga. "This allowed me to capture the sunspots 1476 and 1478 with an exposure of 1/125 second at ISO 100." More photo details may be found here.

NOAA forecasters estimate a 15% chance of M-class flares and no more than a 1% chance of X-flares from AR1476 during the next 24 hours. The chance of photo-ops: 100%.

more images: from VegaStar Carpentier of Paris, France; from Mike Borman of Evansville, Indiana; from Maximilian Teodorescu of Dumitrana, Romania; from Alberto Lao of Binondo, Manila, Philippines; from Art Whipple of Tracys Landing, Maryland; from John W. O'Neal II of Amherst, Ohio; from Pete Lawrence of Selsey, West Sussex, UK; from Göran Strand of Frösön, Jämtland; from Eric von der Heyden of Traisa, Hessen, Germany

Switch to: Europe, USA, New Zealand, Antarctica
Credit: NOAA/POES

Planetary K-index
Now: Kp= 1 quiet
24-hr max: Kp= 2 quiet
explanation | more data

Interplanetary Mag. Field
B_total: 5.9 nT
B_z: 2.4 nT north
explanation | more data
Updated: Today at 1736 UT

Coronal Holes: 15 May 12

There are no large coronal holes on the Earthside of the sun. Credit: SDO/AIA.