~Space Weather Update~ INCOMING CME To Arrive May 14th [1]

INCOMING CME (UPDATED): On May 11th at 23:54 UT, a coronal mass ejection raced away from the sun faster than 1000 km/s. The fast-moving cloud will deliver a glancing blow to Earth's magnetic field on May 14th around 14:30 UT, according to a revised forecast track [2] prepared by analysts at the Goddard Space Weather Lab. Mars is also in the line of fire. Magnetic storm alerts: text [3], phone [4].

 

SUNSET OVER PARIS: Huge sunspot AR1476 poses a threat for strong solar flares, but for the past two days the so-called "active region" has been mostly quiet. What the sunspot lacks in drama, however, it more than makes up for in beauty. Consider this photo of last night's sunset over Paris:

 

[5]

 

"Shooting from the Bridge of Concorde, I captured the sunspot setting behind the Eiffel Tower," says photographer VegaStar Carpentier. The light of the low-hanging sun was perfectly dimmed for a 1/1000s exposure @ ISO 400. "I used a Canon EOS 1000D."

The quiet is probably temporary. NOAA forecasters estimate a 75% chance of M-class [6] flares and a 20% chance of X-flares [7] during the next 24 hours.

 

more images: from the Charlie Bates Solar Astronomy Project [8] of Atlanta, GA; from Luis Argerich [9] of Buenos Aires, Argentina; from Eduard Garcia Ribera [10] of Ager, Lleida, Catalonia; from Andy Devey [11] of Sorbas, Spain; from Vasilis Wooseas [12] of Greece, Amvrakikos Wetlands National Park; from Giuseppe Petricca [13] of Pisa, Tuscany, Italy; from Catalin Fus [14] of Krakow, Poland

 

SPACESHIP IN THE SUN: The sunspot number briefly jumped yesterday when a winged silhouette crossed the solar disk over Hampshire, UK. James West was watching the sun with a solar-filtered telescope when the transit occured:

 

[15]

 

"The International Space Station passed right by giant sunspot AR1476," says West. "The sky was partly cloudy but I caught the transit anyway."

 

The sunspot-spaceship encounter was no surprise to West. It had been predicted beforehand by CalSky.org. Readers who wish to take this kind of photo should check CalSky for transit predictions [16] and read West's observing tips [17]. A safe solar observing system might also come in handy: Space Weather Store [18].

 

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

Planetary K-index
Now: Kp= 3 quiet
24-hr max: Kp= 3 quiet
explanation [28] | more data [29]

Interplanetary Mag. Field
B_total: 4.7 nT
B_z: 2.1 nT north
explanation [30] | more data [31]
Updated: Today at 1655 UT

Coronal Holes: 11 May 12

[32]

Earth is inside a solar wind stream flowing from this coronal hole. Credit: SDO/AIA.