- Equinox — Mon, Mar 20, 2023 21:24 UTC • 5:24 PM EDT
EarthSky
January 3, 2023
[Alex on EARTHSKY.ORG] What's happening on the Sun this week? Find out about our current space weather & what we can expect here on Earth. (Image: NASA/SDO)
September 20, 2022
[Alex on EARTHSKY.ORG] This week started with the return of region AR3088, now labeled AR3102. Activity increased by the weekend with several M flares and the return of region AR3089. (Image: David Mark)
August 1, 2022
[Alex on EARTHSKY.ORG] Limb darkening is an effect we can see on the sun where the edges of the sun are darker than the center, due to the amount of photosphere we're looking at.
May 3, 2022
[Alex on EARTHSKY.ORG] East and west on the sun are opposite from what you might expect. On the sun, east is to the left and west is to the right. Learn why here. (Image: NASA/SDO)
May 2, 2022
[Alex on EARTHSKY.ORG] A Grand Solar Minimum happens when the peaks of several solar cycles in a row show less than average intensity. Are we in one? (Image: NOAA)
May 1, 2022
[Alex on EARTHSKY.ORG] Solar physicists often speak of the sun's X-ray flux as being high, or low. Solar flares are like waves on the background ocean of the sun's X-ray flux.
March 26, 2022
[Alex on EARTHSKY.ORG] Solar filaments (aka prominences, when viewed on the limb of the sun) are large, bright arcs of solar material and magnetic fields.
March 24, 2022
[Alex on EARTHSKY.ORG] This pattern in nature – auroras increasing twice a year – is one of the earliest patterns ever to be observed and recorded by scientists.
March 19, 2022
[Alex on EARTHSKY.ORG] Sun activity for March 19, 2022. As you can see from the image, most of the activity right now is occurring on the limbs of the sun, as seen from Earth’s perspective. Image via NASA SDO.
March 14, 2022
[Alex on EARTHSKY.ORG] Lots of fun with the Sun lately. A coronal mass ejection slammed into Earth and gave weekend aurora. Then the Sun fired off a moderate solar flare.
January 31, 2022
[Alex on EARTHSKY.ORG] The large sunspot region AR2936 – which quadrupled in size this past weekend – released an Earth-directed coronal mass ejection (CME) on January 30, 2022.
December 21, 2021
[Alex on EARTHSKY.ORG] There’s been a small uptick in solar activity over the past two days (December 20 and 21, 2021). The increase comes from the fact that nine sunspot groups (active regions or AR) now pepper the visible face of the sun.
November 4, 2021
[Alex on EARTHSKY.ORG] Aurora alert in effect for the next few days: the sun sent out a halo coronal mass ejection on November 2, 2021, due to arrive at Earth on November 4.
October 30, 2021
[Alex on EARTHSKY.ORG] A solar storm after an eruption on the sun is carrying plasma toward Earth, which should produce northern and southern lights this weekend.
September 1, 2021
[Alex on EARTHSKY.ORG] Aurora alert! A pair of coronal mass ejections will reach Earth September 1-2, 2021. Though not dangerous to satellites or the grid, they might cause auroras.