Wonderful weekend auroras for start of May

weekend-auroras

It has been a good weekend for northern sky watchers. A solar wind stream hit Earth’s magnetic field on Saturday, sparking two days of auroras around the Arctic Circle. In Alberta, Canada, this morning, the month of May began with a psychedelic sky:

High-latitude sky watchers should remain alert for auroras. The solar wind continues to blow at high speed, and NOAA forecasters estimate a 50% chance of more geomagnetic activity during the next 24 hours. (SpaceWeather)

Solar wind
speed: 639.4 km/sec
density: 0.1 protons/cm3

Planetary K-index
Now: Kp= 4 unsettled
24-hr max: Kp= 4 unsettled

Interplanetary Mag. Field
Btotal4.3 nT
Bz2.6 nT north

A few new sunspots are forming just to the east of Sunspot 1203 which is located in the northeast section of the visible solar disk. There is not yet a chance for strong solar flares around these regions.

C-Class flare producing sunspots 1195 and 1199 are rotating onto the western limb and will soon be out of direct earth view.

Sunspot 1200 which is transiting the southern hemisphere is now losing size once again. This region does not want to make up its mind as to want to grow or simply fade away. (SolarHam)

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