As the Sun Turns: Solar Minimums and Maximums

[Maria]

And finally, now there is an explanation from NASA and Spaceweather.com regarding the strong proton flux we are witnessing:

GEOMAGNETIC STORM PREDICTED: NOAA forecasters say there is a 60% chance of moderately strong (G2-class) geomagnetic storms on Sept. 13th. That's when a CME hurled into space by yesterday's powerful X8-class solar flare could deliver a glancing blow to Earth's magnetic field. In the United States, auroras could appear as low as New York to Wisconsin to Washington state. Free: Aurora Alerts

MAJOR SOLAR FLARE AND RADIATION STORM: On Sept. 10th, departing sunspot AR2673 erupted, producing a powerful X8-class solar flare. The explosion propelled a CME into space and accelerated a swarm of energetic protons toward Earth. Both are visible in this coronagraph movie from the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO): [click below to see the video]

http://www.spaceweather.com/images2017/ ... r18il5sm73

The many specks in this movie are not stars--they are solar protons striking SOHO's digital camera. On Sept. 11th these protons are still streaming past our planet, causing a strong (S3-class) solar radiation storm.

When it exploded on Sept. 10th, sunspot AR2673 was on the sun's western limb. It turns out, this is a special location: The sun's western limb is magnetically well-connected to Earth. Look at this diagram. Magnetic fields spiraling back from the blast site led directly to our planet, funneling these energetic protons Earthward for the ongoing radiation storm.

During a radiation storm like this one, cameras on Earth-orbiting satellites may be clouded by the action of the energetic particles; astronauts are recommended to avoid spacewalks; and passengers on high-flying aircraft can absorb elevated doses of radiation during transits of Earth's polar regions.

[Maria]

During the recent X Class Flare that was rated an X8.3 and during the CME that will follow this huge solar flare, both neutrons and protons will impact the earth.

Here is a PDF from NASA that explains neutrons.

https://three.jsc.nasa.gov/articles/Hei ... lement.pdf

[Barbara]

"Idaho stargazers could get a treat this week thanks to a celestial storm ....

Often, these disturbances are caused by solar flares. This instance, predicted to take place between Wednesday and Saturday, is the result of a coronal hole high speed stream, according to NOAA....

http://www.idahostatesman.com/news/weat ... 35941.html

[Maria]

Below are some recent plots from NASA showing that solar storms are still irradiating the earth.

[Maria]

And here is a solar image showing that something (AR2672) is coming around the West limb of the Sun.

solar image_09-1402017_something cometh from the West limb.jpg (149.28 KiB) Viewed 2148 times

If you look closely, you can see the large coronal holes from which strong solar winds can emerge.

[Luke]

I was not familiar with how solar flares are classed. This article gives an idea how: http://www.cnn.com/2017/09/15/opinions/ ... index.html

[Maria]

Thanks, it was a decent article expressed in layman's language that is easily understood by most high school graduates, I hope.