~Space Weather Update~ Farside Cme Blast~ Wind Speed 366 [1]

FARSIDE CME: A coronal mass ejection (CME) blasted away from the farside of the sun on March 21st at 0740 UT. SOHO photographed the cloud expanding [2] at 1550 km/s (3.5 million mph). The source of the CME is probably old sunspot AR1429, still active as it transits the farside.

 

FIRST AURORAS OF SPRING: It's a well-known scientific fact that equinoxes favor auroras [3]. True to form, March 20th began with the vernal equinox and ended with this outburst of Spring-green over Tromsø, Norway:

 

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"It was an absolutely magic moment in a magic place," says photographer Ole C. Salomonsen. "The temperature was -13 C and I was almost alone: The tracks in the snow are from a fox which was there just before me. The auroras were mostly moderate, but at times they burst into strong lightshows, as shown above. It was a beautiful display." Aurora alerts: text [5], phone [6].

 

more images: from Bernt Olsen [7] of Simavika, Tromsø, Norway; from Frank Olsen [8] of Sommarøy / Tromsø, Norway; from Arild Heitmann [9] of Tennevik River, Troms, Norway; from B.Art Braafhart [10] of Salla, Finnish-Lapland; from Einar Halvorsrud [11] of Alta, Norway; from Nenne Åman [12] of Arjeplog, northern Sweden

 

MARS AND THE SUPERNOVA: "On March 18th, I photographed the planet Mars among the galaxies of Leo," reports amateur astronomer Oscar Martín Mesonero of Salamanca, Spain. "The next morning, I learned that a supernova exploded in the galaxy M95 [13]. I quickly checked the photos and there it was!" (continued below)

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"Unwittingly, using my ED80 [15], I had photographed a supernova of magnitude +13.5 only two days after its discovery," says Mesonero. "I never expected the night to bring so many wonderful things."

The rapidly brightening supernova is an easy target for mid-sized backyard telescopes equipped with CCD cameras--and it's easy to find [16] only a degree south of Mars. Astrophotographers, now is your chance to catch a supernova in the act.

 

more images: from Anthony Ayiomamitis [17] of Athens, Greece; from Efrain Morales Rivera [18] of Aguadilla, Puerto Rico; from Zlatan Merakov [19] of Smolyan, Bulgaria; from Jeff Donaldson [20] of Enfield, NS Canada;

 

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

Planetary K-index
Now: Kp= 2 quiet
24-hr max: Kp= 2 quiet
explanation [30] | more data [31]

Interplanetary Mag. Field
B_total: 3.6 nT
B_z: 0.3 nT north
explanation [32] | more data [33]
Updated: Today at 1617 UT

Coronal Holes: 21 Mar 12

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