After a weekend of quiet decay, sunspots 1271 and 1272 are growing again. Click on the image to view 24 hours of development:The increase in size has not yet translated into a significant increase in flares. Solar activity remains low, although this could change if
A double-barreled hole has opened up in the sun’s atmosphere and it is spewing a split-stream of solar wind toward Earth. NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory captured this composite UV image of the double coronal hole on August 20th:Sky watchers should be alert for
Yesterday, the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory witnessed a spectacular explosion on the sun that seemed to pass perilously close to Venus.As the movie shows, the CME passed harmlessly. There was no collision, and it wasn’t even close. Although Venus seems to be
A big new sunspot is emerging over the sun's northeastern limb. AR1271 has at least four dark cores and it is crackling with small flares. The sunspot's entrance was captured in this 24-hour movie from the Solar Dynamics Observatory: NOAA forecasters…
This morning at 08:05 UTC, sunspot 1263 produced an X6.9 solar flare, the third X-flare of new Solar Cycle 24 and the most powerful so far. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory captured the explosion's extreme ultraviolet flash:The brunt of the ex
A second M-Class flare, this time a M2.5 took place at 03:54 UTC Tuesday morning around Sunspot 1263. This is in addition to the earlier M3.5 flare which we reported yesterday. The first flare produced a small, but fast moving (2010 km/s) Coronal Mass Ejection…
Behemoth sunspot 1263 has almost doubled in size this weekend. A 28-hour movie from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory shows the spot developing a tail that has added some 50,000 km of length to the active region.This development may increase the likelihood of a stro
A Moderate Solar Flare reaching M6.0 took place around Sunspot 1261 at 13:47 UTC Wednesday and appears to be long in duration. A brief R2 Radio Blackout resulted. A bright Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) is associated and can be seen in the image below. It is most likely
An M1.1 Solar Flare took place around Sunspot 1261 at 03:37 UTC Wednesday morning followed an hour later by a M1.7 flare around Sunspot 1263 at 04:32 UTC. Stay tuned to this website for any further developments.A long duration M1.4 Solar Flare took place around
During the early hours of July 9th, a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) billowed away from new sunspot 1247. A preliminary analysis of data from NASA's twin STEREO-A and -B spacecraft suggests that the flank of the CME could hit Earth's magnetic field sometime on July
