Tag Archives: Sunspot

Sun produces four X-class flares in two days

Posted on May 15, 2013 by

Above: note the four separate events in the last two days – from the WUWT Solar Page (From NASA’s Spaceweather.com) When the week began, the sun hadn’t unleashed an X-flare all year long. In only two days, sunspot AR1748 has … Continue reading →

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Posted in solar flare | Tagged , , , , , , , | 65 Comments

Solar cycle update – sun’s magnetic activity still in a slump

Posted on May 7, 2013 by

Despite some small upticks on sunspot and 10.7cm radio activity, the magentic activity of the sun is still bumping along the bottom. A slight uptick was seen in sunspot count.  A similar slight uptick occurred in radio flux.

Posted in Solar | Tagged , , , , , , | 137 Comments

December solar activity in a big slump

Posted on January 9, 2013 by

The December data from NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center is in, and it looks more and more like the peak of solar cycle 24 has been reached, and that we are now past it. Even with documented problems like “sunspot … Continue reading →

Posted in Solar | Tagged , , , | 202 Comments

Counting Sunspots and Sunspot Inflation

Posted on January 4, 2013 by

Guest post by Dr. Leif Svalgaard The official sunspot number is issued by SIDC in Brussels http://sidc.be/sunspot-data/ . The [relative] sunspot number was introduced by Rudolf Wolf http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudolf_Wolf  in the middle of the 19th century. He called it the ‘relative’ … Continue reading →

Posted in Solar | Tagged , , , , | 205 Comments

Solar cycle 24 continues weakly, perhaps weakest of the space-age

Posted on November 6, 2012 by

NOAA SWPC has updated their plot page of solar metrics, and the slump continues. At spaceweather.com Dr. Tony Phillips writes: SO THIS IS SOLAR MAXIMUM? Forecasters have long expected the Solar Max of 2013 to be the weakest of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Solar | Tagged , , , , , | 288 Comments

The sun – still slumping

Posted on September 3, 2012 by

The latest solar cycle update graphs have been released by the NOAA SWPC today, and the anemic cycle 24 continues: The current count isn’t keeping up with the prediction line in red. Not only is the sunspot count low, so … Continue reading →

Posted in Solar | Tagged , , , | 89 Comments

A quiet cue ball sun

Posted on June 24, 2012 by

Source: http://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/assets/img/latest/latest_4096_4500.jpg A couple of people have noticed (as did I) that the sun is essentially blank.

Posted in Astronomy | Tagged , , , , , , , | 110 Comments

“firecracker” sunspot turning towards earth – possible large solar flares

Posted on May 8, 2012 by

Sunspot AR1476 may have some surprises for us in the coming days, and I hope it isn’t a Carrington type event. It has already launched two CME’s yesterday. From NASA’s Spaceweather.com: A pair of solar eruptions on May 7th hurled coronal … Continue reading →

Posted in Solar, solar flare | Tagged , , , , , , , | 52 Comments

Potential for large solar flares and CME’s may be with us again soon

Posted on March 29, 2012 by

Readers may recall my reports on the CME’s from massive sunspot group 1429, seen below. It seems the sunspot group continues to live, and has unleashed another massive Coronal Mass Ejection. It will rotate into Earth view again soon.

Posted in solar flare | Tagged , , , , , , , | 60 Comments

NOAA: Strong Solar Eruption; Earth-Directed CME Likely

Posted on March 6, 2012 by

An X-5 class solar flare just occurred from region 1429, the large active sunspot group seen below. NOAA Bulletin from the Space Weather Prediction Center: 2012-03-07 01:03   Strong Solar Eruption; Earth-Directed CME Likely

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First Estimate of Solar Cycle 25 Amplitude – may be the smallest in over 300 years

Posted on January 25, 2012 by

Guest post by David Archibald Predicting the amplitude of Solar Cycle 24 was a big business. Jan Janssens provides the most complete table of Solar Cycle 24 predictions at: http://users.telenet.be/j.janssens/SC24.html Prediction activity for Solar Cycle 24 seemed to have peaked … Continue reading →

Posted in Solar | Tagged , , , , , , , | 251 Comments

Solar cycle update: sunspots down, Ap index way down

Posted on January 4, 2012 by

The NOAA SWPC monthly solar cycle update has been published here, and after a big spike last month, the sunspot count is down again. There’s an even bigger drop though in the Ap geomagnetic index, as seen and discussed below … Continue reading →

Posted in NOAA, Solar | Tagged , , , , , | 150 Comments

Solar activity on the upswing, big sunspot rotating into view is producing x-class solar flares. Large CME expected soon, may hit earth.

Posted on September 25, 2011 by

From Spaceweather.com: New sunspot 1302 has already produced two X-flares(X1.4 on Sept. 22nd and X1.9 on Sept. 24th), can another be far behind? NOAA forecasters put the 24-hour probability at 20%. The sheer size of the active region suggests the … Continue reading →

Posted in solar flare | Tagged , , , , | 71 Comments

Easterbrook on the potential demise of sunspots

Posted on June 17, 2011 by

THE DEMISE OF SUNSPOTS—DEEP COOLING AHEAD? Don J. Easterbrook, Professor of Geology, Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA The three studies released by NSO’s Solar Synoptic Network this week, predicting the virtual vanishing of sunspots for the next several decades and … Continue reading →

Posted in Science, Solar | Tagged , , , , | 475 Comments

BREAKING – major AAS solar announcement: Sun’s Fading Spots Signal Big Drop in Solar Activity

Posted on June 14, 2011 by

“If we are right, this could be the last solar maximum we’ll see for a few decades,” Hill said. “That would affect everything from space exploration to Earth’s climate.” Update: see the official press release here – “All three of … Continue reading →

Posted in Science, Solar | Tagged , , | 270 Comments

The smallest sunspot cycle in two hundred years

Posted on April 9, 2011 by

I missed this earlier this week from NASA, I got a bit distracted with other things. Sixty two – that’s the new number from Hathaway on April 4th, have a look:

Posted in Science, Solar | Tagged , , , | 92 Comments

The minimal solar activity in 2008–2009 and its implications for long‐term climate modeling

Posted on March 19, 2011 by

This is a new paper in Geophysical Research Letters by C. J. Schrijver, W. C. Livingston, T. N. Woods, and R. A. Mewaldt. WUWT readers may recognize Livingston as the creator of one of the datasets we regularly follow graphically … Continue reading →

Posted in Cosmic rays, Science, Solar | Tagged , , , , , , | 204 Comments

NASA’s Hathaway revises the sunspot prediction down again

Posted on February 9, 2011 by

From the Marshall Space Flight Center, Dr. Hathaway’s page: Current prediction for the next sunspot cycle maximum gives a smoothed sunspot number maximum of about 58 in July of 2013. We are currently two years into Cycle 24 and the … Continue reading →

Posted in Solar | Tagged , , , , | 208 Comments

NASA Sun Spot Number predictions revised again

Posted on January 18, 2011 by

UPDATE: see my animation of NASA solar forecasts since 2004 below. WUWT Commenter J Gary Fox writes: The solar cycle 24 predicted sunspot maximum has been reduced again – predicted peak down to 59 Max. (1/3/11) http://solarscience.msfc.nasa.gov/predict.shtml “It’s tough to … Continue reading →

Posted in Science, Solar | Tagged , , , , | 187 Comments

The sun is still in a slump – still not conforming to NOAA “consensus” forecasts

Posted on January 5, 2011 by

NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) produced their monthly solar cycle progression update yesterday. The news is not encouraging. We’ve had a drop in solar activity again in December, The sunspot count is lower, but the really worrisome thing is … Continue reading →

Posted in Science, Solar | Tagged , , , , , , | 256 Comments