Category Archives: Space Weather Alerts

Filament + Exploding Plasma= CME!!!

A long, dark magnetic filament is looping over the sun’s northeastern limb today.

NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory took the picture just a few hours ago using the highest-resolution cameras ever flown on a mission to study the sun. Plasma trapped inside the filament is dense and cool relative to the seething inferno below. If the filament collapses, as filaments often do, the plasma could hit the surface and explode, producing a Hyder flare or a coronal mass ejection (CME).

Space Weather Alert

A magnetic filament on the sun erupted yesterday, May 24th, and the blast hurled a coronal mass ejection (CME) in the general direction of Earth. NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory recorded the action around the blast site in 10xHDTV resolution:

Shortly after the eruption, the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) spotted a billion-ton CME racing away from the sun. NOAA forecasters say there is a 35% chance of geomagnetic activity on May 27th when the cloud delivers a glancing blow to Earth’s magnetic field. High-latitude sky watchers should be alert for auroras.

Watch out for Solar Whiplash

“A long dark magnetic filament is looping around the northeastern limb, stretching almost 100,000 km from end to end: Long, bushy filaments like this have been known to grow unstable and erupt, producing a type of spotless flare called a “Hyder flare.” If that happens now, Earth would likely feel some effects from the blast because the filament is turning to face our planet.”

The solar wind has also been raging. Speeds and proton densities of the solar wind over this last 24 hour period have increased by 30%. Proton density is now down but the winds are still going strong. So hipsters beware…its not your 3-G network failing…its because you are falling victim to the most important weather on the web.