Solar polar vortex and the X-factor returns

Our Sun went viral this week with a stunning polar vortex that revealed some of its mysterious dynamics in the one final region still uncharted by solar telescopes, that is until Solar Orbiter begins to climb to higher latitudes later in its mission.

This vortex has now been cited in many media outlets as “a piece of the Sun breaks off” but don’t believe the hype. It is all part of the perfectly normal and stunning solar ballet!

Turning towards the weather, we are still coming down from some fast solar wind that brought us to storm levels for a short while and is bringing some nice aurora to mid-latitudes, but things should calm down over the weekend.

More storms are likely in store because we have a lot of big-flare players that have returned or have emerged in Earth view this week.

Over the past several days we have had over 12 radio blackouts on Earth’s dayside. This means radio operators, GPS users, and pilots will notice degradation in HF communications, and possibly GPS reception on the dayside, near dawn and dusk, and over the polar regions of Earth.

Learn the details of all the Sun’s activity and see what else might be in store this week:

Featured image credit: Tamitha Skov (stillshot)