New Sunspot / Aurora Watch (August 24) 

A new sunspot has rotated into view on the eastern limb and the mini spotless steak is now over. This region appears simple and the chances for strong solar flares will be very low. An aurora watch is in effect as the coronal hole solar wind stream is now gusting past 600km/s. There will be a chance for minor geomagnetic storming at high latitudes.

Solar Update / 5 Sunspots (August 11) 

The sun has a slight peppering of sunspots with now 5 regions visible for the first time. Sunspots 1093, 1096, 1097 and soon to be 1098 occupy the northern hemisphere and Sunspot 1095 quietly persists in the southern hemisphere. There will remain the chance for B-Class flares and perhaps a lower chance of a C-Class flare.

G2 Geomagnetic Storm (August 3) 

While I was at work Tuesday afternoon, a shock detected by the Ace Spacecraft indicated the arrival of atleast one CME (Coronal Mass Ejection) caused by the long duration C3 flare on Sunday. The K-Index reached 6 and this indicates a G2 Level Geomagnetic Storm. Aurora contacts have been made on VHF. More geomagnetic storming is possible in the next 24 hours if a possible secondary CME strikes a blow to earths magnetic field.

Earth Directed CME / Eastern Limb Active Regions (August 1) 

A long duration C3.2 flare took place around Sunspot 1092 on Sunday. In the latest Lasco C3 movie you can see an earth directed Coronal Mass Ejection (CME). There will be a chance for Geomagnetic Storming wtihin 48-72 hours. more to follow. Sunspot 1089 has rotated out of direct earth view and onto the western limb. Currently Sunspot 1092 is the only visible region on the face of the sun. There is a chance for C-Class flares. The latest STEREO Behind images show a pair of active regions that could be sunspots. They will rotate into view on the eastern limb in the upcoming week. Click on the image below.

Solar Update / Sunspots 1089 + 1092 (July 28) 

A new sunspot now numbered 1092 rotated into view Wednesday. It is currently a simple sunspot with a small chance for a C-Class flare. Sunspot 1089 located in the southern hemisphere, continues to produce the odd C-Class flare. This region is rotating towards the western limb of the sun. There will continue to be a chance for C-Class flares and perhaps a lower chance for an M-Class event.

Solar Update / Eastern Limb (July 5) 

A new sunspot has formed in the northern hemisphere of the sun and was numbered 1086. In the southern hemisphere, Sunspot 1084 quietly persists. A Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) took place on the eastern limb Monday and is seen in the latest Lasco C2 movie. This was most likely caused by old sunspot 1082 according to NOAA.

Sunspot 1084 / Aurora Watch (June 29) 

Sunspot 1084 which is located in the southern hemisphere is about the size of planet earth, but has a simple magnetic signature and currently poses no risk for strong solar flares. Another small sunspot that formed in the southern hemisphere was numbered 1085, but it has already vanished. A high speed Coronal Hole wind stream is flowing past earth and this could stir up minor aurora activity at high latitudes.

Geomagnetic Storm / Solar Update (May 29) 

The Bz has been tilting sharply south for long durations and this is helping to create Aurora conditions at very high latitudes. Geomagnetic Storm conditions are expected and depending on how long the Magnetic Field tilts south, it could stir up Aurora activity on VHF. Solar activity remains at very low levels. Sunspot 1072 has rotated onto the western limb and out of direct earth view. There is a few regions to watch on the visible solar disk as they are trying to form sunspots.

Sunspot 1069 / M1.2 Solar Flare (May 5) 

New sunspot 1069 which formed high in latitude in the northern hemisphere produced a M1.2 Solar Flare at 17:19 UTC Wednesday. This is in addition to the C8.8 flare from earlier in the day Wednesday. This region is still listed as a BETA-Gamma sunspot group and there remains a chance for an isolated M-Class event. A small new sunspot numbered 1070 on Wednesday has not shown any further growth and it looks like it should fade away..

Sunspot 1069 Forms (May 4) 

A new sunspot formed at very high latitude in the northern hemisphere Tuesday and was numbered 1069. This appears to be growing at a fairly quick pace and it did produce a C3 solar flare. There will remain a chance for B-Class and perhaps another C-Class flare from this region. Elsewhere, Sunspots 1067 remains a Beta sunspot group with 2 small sunspots. Sunspots 1063,1066 and 1068 have all decayed into spotless plages.

G2 Geomagnetic Storm (May 2) 

The Bz was tilting sharply south at times during the day Sunday and this triggered a G2 geomagnetic storm. The solar wind also increased to over 600 km/s. Many aurora contacts were made on 6m and also 2m. The Geomagnetic storm lasted several hours and as of this posting is still ongoing. Stations at high latitude should be on the lookout for aurora.

Southward Bz / Aurora Watch (May 2) 

The Bz has been tilting sharply south at times and this could trigger geomagnetic storming at high latitudes.The solar wind has also increased to near 600 km/s. Some aurora contacts have been made on 6 meters, however the best time of day would be towards local evening if the Bz continues to tilt south. Continue to monitor conditions today.

Sunspot 1064 / Eastern Limb / C5.7 Solar Flare (April 30) 

A C5.7 Solar flare took place at 01:39 UTC on Saturday and the source was the new region located on the eastern limb. This is now the 2nd C-Class flare to take place in the past 24 hours. New sunspot 1064 formed in the northern hemisphere and is capable of producing B-Class flares. This region appears to have 2 small spots within the group, giving it BETA status.

Solar Update / Storm coming to an end (April 6) 

The first true geomagnetic storm of Cycle 24 which was caused by an incoming CME and Solar Wind + Southward Bz combo is finally starting to taper off. Minor to Severe storming reaching the G3 level (K-Index=7) took place over the past few days. Many aurora contacts were made on VHF, both in northern Europe and northern parts of North America. The timing of the initial impact was very early in the morning Monday in North America, and because of this the Aurora conditions were not as strong as they could have been. It was a nice treat however. ++++++ Sunspot 1061 continues to show a bit of growth and Sunspot 1060 also persists. Both of these sunspots have been fairly quiet. Sunspot 1059 which is located in the southern hemisphere continues to barely stay visible.

New Sunspot / Small CME (April 4) 

Just as Sunspot 1057 is approaching the western limb, another Sunspot has formed in the northern hemisphere towards the eastern limb. It is currently small and there is no chance for strong solar flares at this time. Sunspot 1059 which is located in the southern hemisphere continues to shrink. Sunspot 1059 produced a long duration B7 Solar Flare on Saturday and a Full Halo CME was associated with this small event. The CME looks to be faint and may not stir up much activity on VHF. As usual, Regions at very high latitude could see some nice aurora displays within the next 72 hours.

Solar Update + Sunspot 1059 Numbered (March 27) 

A new sunspot emerged on the eastern limb and was numbered 1059 on Saturday. This region is an alpha sunspot and should not stir up much activity in the short term. It will however provide another area of the sun to watch over the next few days. Sunspot 1057 has produced multiple C-Class flares, the largest of which was a C3.8 flare at 18:29 UTC on Saturday. This region spans the size of atleast 3 planet earths and has a small chance for an M-Class flare..

Solar Update / Sun-Speck 1058 (March 25) 

Big Sunspot 1057 remains stable and has only produced B-Class flares in the past 24 hours. Depending on if the region becomes more magnetically complex, there could be the chance for stronger solar flares. New sunspot 1058 was numbered on Thursday. It is a very small speck located in the northern hemisphere.

Sunspot 1056 growing again / CME (March 20) 

Sunspot 1056 is growing again. For part of yesterday this region faded to a spotless plage, however on Saturday there is 4 or 5 small spots visible. There will be a chance for B-Class flares. A CME took place early on Saturday and was located off the western limb. You can view the image below and can click on this LINK to watch the latest Lasco C2 movie. This impressive explosion is not earth directed and will have no impact on geomagnetic activity. Sooner or later we will get lucky and an earth directed blast will finally wake VHF Aurora up.

Sunspot 1054 and 1055 Update (March 11) 

A pair of sunspots are currently visible on the earth facing side of the sun. Sunspot 1054 which was numbered on Wednesday is located in the northern hemisphere. This region continues to show some growth. There is a chance for B-Class flares and perhaps a slight chance of a C-Class event. Another new sunspot also formed in the southern hemisphere and was officially numbered 1055 on Thursday.

Sunspots Return (March 10) 

A pair of sunspot groups have formed on the visible solar disk. A new region which is located in the northern hemisphere towards the eastern limb was numbered 1054 on Wednesday. Meanwhile in the southern hemisphere, a new region quickly formed during the later part of Wednesday and should be numbered 1055 on Thursday. There will be a chance for B-Class flares and perhaps a small chance for a C-Class flare.

Sunspot 1045 Update / Solar Flux + Sunspot Number (Feb 8) 

Solar Update - Solar activity has been moderate the past 24 hours with several M-Class flares taking place. The largest of which was an M4 event at 07:43 UTC Monday. Sunspot 1045 remains an impressive sunspot cluster with a magnetic beta-gamma-delta configuration, but it now looks like it may be starting to thin out somewhat. There will remain the chance for M-Class flares and a 15% chance of an X-Class event. Any such flare could produce earth directed Coronal Mass Ejections. Another new sunspot was numbered on Monday. Sunspot 1047 is located in the southern hemisphere towards the eastern limb. Elsewhere Sunspot 1046 in the northern hemisphere remains quiet. Solar Flux + Sunspot # - The solar flux reached a high of 95.5 with a daily average of 94 on Monday. This is a new record for Cycle 24. The sunspot number for Monday was 71. This is also a new record.

Popcorn Sunspots / Aurora Watch (Feb 5) 

Sunspots are now starting to pop up in many areas on the visible solar disk. There is probably another sunspot hiding on the eastern limb as well. Sunspot 1043 remains a single sunspot. New Sunspot 1044 which formed just below 1043 has vanished for the time being. A few new sunspots formed on Friday evening. Click on the image below. There will be a small (30%) chance for minor geomagnetic storming around Feb 7 because of a Coronal Hole solar wind stream flowing from the sun as well as possible effects due to a small CME on Feb 2. Stay Tuned.

Eastern Limb CME / Solar Update (Jan 17) 

What appears to be a solar flare has taken place off the eastern limb. If there is a sunspot hiding on the limb, it will rotate into view by next weekend. Sunspot 1040 is in a state of decay as it makes its way towards the western limb of the sun. There is still a chance for B-Class flares and a smaller chance of C-Class flares.

C7.2 Flare / Solar Update (Dec 21) 

A C7.2 Solar flare occurred early Tuesday morning at 04:56 UTC. This flare took place around Sunspot 1036 in the southern hemisphere of the sun. Monday marked the 13th day in a row with an official sunspot count. This is currently the longest stretch of Cycle 24. This will go even longer with the new sunspots popping up. Several low level B-Class flares have taken place during the day on Tuesday. There will continue to be a chance for more B-Class and C-Class flare activity. Sunspot 1036 in the southern hemisphere and Sunspot 1038 in the north are currently the only visible regions on the face of the sun. Sunspot 1035 has rotated out of view on the western limb.

More Sunspots / Solar Update (Dec 19) 

Sunspot 1036 and 1037 numbered - A small new sunspot group has formed in the southern hemisphere of the sun on Saturday morning. There is also the eastern limb region which appears to have also formed a few tiny spots. Sunspot 1035 produced a few C-Class solar flares, the biggest of which was a C7.6 event on Friday afternoon. This is now the largest X-Ray enhancement of Cycle 24 up until this update. There will continue to be a chance for an isolated C-Class flare.

C7.6 Flare / Solar Update (Dec 18) 

Sunspot 1035 has produced a few C-Class solar flares, the biggest of which was a C7.6 event on Friday afternoon. This is now the largest X-Ray enhancement of Cycle 24 up until this update. There will continue to be a chance for more C-Class flares and perhaps a smaller chance for an M-Class event. The plage region that rotated onto the Eastern Limb is currently spotless.

C5.3 Flare / Sunspot 1035 (Dec 15) 

The largest Solar Flare of Cycle 24 thus far took place early Wednesday morning. It registered C5.3 on the flare scale. It is small in comparison to flares at solar max, however it is a good sign nonetheless. Sunspot 1035 is an impressive sunspot cluster consisting of around 20 spots. There will remain a chance for B-Class and perhaps more C-Class flares. The solar flux reached 82 on Tuesday.

The K7RA Solar Update (July 3) 

Sunspot numbers for June 25-1 were 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0 and 0 with a mean of 0. The 10.7 cm flux was 68, 66.8, 67, 67, 68.5, 68.2 and 67.5 with a mean of 67.6. The estimated planetary A indices were 7, 3, 3, 11, 10, 5 and 4 with a mean of 6.1. The estimated mid-latitude A indices were 6, 2, 4, 8, 7, 5 and 3 with a mean of 5.

The K7RA Solar Update (June 19) 

bet you have this memorized: "Solar activity was very low throughout the reporting period, and geomagnetic field activity was at quiet levels during most of the reporting period." Enough said? The first sunspot region of Solar Cycle 24 occurred on January 4, 2008. Since then, though, Solar Cycle 24 spots have been few and far between

The K7RA Solar Update (May 29) 

That was a nice string of days showing a sunspot -- May 13-19 -- a whole week. Then it was gone, but a few days later on May 23, another Solar Cycle 24 sunspot emerged, this time in our Sun's southern hemisphere. But it was another of those phantom spots. This one actually emerged, and gave us a sunspot number of 13. For that one day it covered 30 10E-6 hemispheres. (10E-6, or 10 to the minus sixth power, is another way of expressing the fraction one-millionth). The next day it was gone.

The K7RA Solar Update (May 22) 

Do sunspots matter? Many of us are surprised at how good conditions can be with zero sunspots; the weak solar wind and lack of flares and geomagnetic events likely have something to do with it. Many times during the more active solar periods, sunspots were welcomed, but then some event associated with the higher solar activity would make conditions difficult, disrupt the ionosphere and increase absorption.

The K7RA Solar Update (May 15) 

After weeks of little or no sunspots, it is nice to have something to report: Following multiple false starts, quick-fading spots and knots of magnetic activity that never progressed into actual darkened sunspots, new sunspot group 1017 emerged on Wednesday, May 13. The daily sunspot number was 12; the next day the size of the group approximately doubled, raising the sunspot number to 18. This is a Solar Cycle 24 sunspot group. A week ago, we expected active regions spotted by the STEREO mission would emerge into sunspots over the weekend, but like many others in the recent past, they faded away. The new sunspot this week emerged a few days later.

The K7RA Solar Update (May 8) 

A Solar Cycle 23 spot appeared for two days -- April 29-30 -- in an area that soon rotated out of view. Sunspot numbers were 15 and 12, but for the last seven days, we haven't seen any spots. This may end soon -- we get the advance word because of the STEREO mission, which is gradually able to see more and more of the sun not visible from Earth. On May 5-6, the STEREO B satellite was able to see an eruption from an active region around the eastern edge of the Sun, outside of our view. If sunspots emerge, they will be Solar Cycle 24 spots, due to their relatively high latitude.

The K7RA Solar Update (May 1) 

The data at the end of last week's bulletin showed daily sunspot numbers from April 16-22 as six zeros, then 11. In fact, every day was at zero until April 21, when it was 11; it moved again to zero the next day, April 22. We had just as many zero sunspot days -- and only one day with a sunspot -- but we saw the sunspot on Tuesday, April 21, not April 22

The K7RA Solar Update (Apr 24) 

Teased again, on Wednesday, April 22 we saw sunspot 1015 fade away, just as it was about to slip over our Sun's western limb. It emerged only briefly, late on April 21, and by Thursday it had disappeared. Sunspot numbers for April 16 through 22 were 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, and 11 with a mean of 1.6. The 10.7 cm flux was 69.9, 69.8, 69.9, 70.1, 69.8, 71, and 71.1 with a mean of 70.2. The estimated planetary A indices were 6, 5, 8, 4, 4, 5 and 4 with a mean of 5.1. The estimated mid-latitude A indices were 3, 4, 8, 4, 3, 3 and 2 with a mean of 3.9. The outlook for the near term is more of the same, quiet conditions. Geophysical Institute Prague predicts quiet conditions for April 24-30. The US Air Force and NOAA predict a nice quiet planetary A index of 5 until May 6-9, when they expect to see a planetary A index of 15, 8, 8 and 8.

The K7RA Solar Update (Apr 17) 

Still no sunspots, and again we saw a prediction for slightly higher solar flux slip away. If you go here and click on any forecast prior to April 14, you will see solar flux numbers at 72 predicted for the end of this month. But in the few days since then, any predicted values over 70 have vanished -- including another set of slightly higher numbers in late May. Sunspot numbers for April 9-15 were 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0 and 0 with a mean of 0. The 10.7 cm flux was 70.1, 69.4, 69.3, 69.3, 68.4, 69.4 and 69.4 with a mean of 69.3. The estimated planetary A indices were 12, 8, 9, 8, 4, 2 and 3 with a mean of 6.6. The estimated mid-latitude A indices were 9, 6, 7, 4, 3, 1 and 2 with a mean of 4.6.