STILL WAITING FOR THE CME: The CME launched toward Earth by the July 12th X-flare has not yet arrived. However, we are still within the forecast window set by analysts at the Goddard Space Weather Lab. The cloud should hit at 09:17 UT plus or minus 7 hours on Saturday, July 14th. Weekend auroras are likely. Aurora alerts: text, voice.
SUNDAY MORNING SKY SHOW: Set your alarm for dawn on Sunday morning, July 15th. Venus, Jupiter and the crescent Moon are gathering for a bright three-way conjunction in the eastern sky before sunrise. Must-see! [video] [photos]
HOT COMET: Periodic comet 96P/Maccholz is passing by the sun today deep inside the orbit of Mercury. At closest approach, the icy visitor from the outer solar system will be less than 12 million miles (0.13 AU) from the solar surface. Coronagraphs onboard the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory are monitoring the encounter: (see site for video)
Comments
Thanks for that insight, W&R.
An interesting note, though the solar storm turned out NOT to be much of anything, the network tv station I work for left me with urgent overnight instructions for switching to a back up satellite for the main network feeds, just in case our network's main satellite went out of action.
When a national network tv station prepares to use a back up satellite, I think it is a fair indicator they felt it could be a serious problem.
The flare though, only had an Xclass rating of 35%, meaning it was not a fully charged Xclass event. The fact that it was shot directly at Earth though, made it take on a more threatening status. Truthfully, most of the talk of solar flares is complete hype, I have maintained equipment over 20 years through many Xclass direct hits on our little planet, and most were barely, if even, noticeable. An Xclass flare on a solstice would have an interesting effect I think, as the noise from the sun can almost drown out geosynchronous satellite signals on solstice days.
Just my personal experience with solar flares.
We are waiting for thunder storms here. Lothar, do you know exactly WHERE it is hitting, or just swooping all over the earth? I know, dumb question.