SpaceSun

Sun activity: Week of June 20, 2022

Posted by
C. Alex Young
and
Raúl Cortés
and
Michael Maimone
and
June 20, 2022

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Blue globe (the sun) with numbering of the three sunspot groups on the sun
A full sun image captured by the SWAP instrument from the ESA Proba2 spacecraft taken June 26, 2022. The forecast for sun activity today is a 60% chance for C-flares, 10% for M flares, and 1% for X-flares. Image via SWAP and solarmonitor.

June 26 sun activity update: Minor geomagnetic storm

Low sun activity continues. Earth experienced a brief G1 geomagnetic storm (minor) caused by the impact of high speed solar wind from a coronal hole. The threshold for G1 was reached at 02:02 UTC on June 26. The storm lasted only a few hours.

June 25 update: Sun activity low

Sun activity continues low, with primarly B-class flares (more than 15 flares) and only two C-class eruptions. The biggest was a C1.6 flare, produced by AR3038 at 8:49 UTC on June 24, 2022. The two sunspot regions with more potential for flares are AR3038 and AR3040. But it seems that AR3038 is starting to weaken a little. It increased in size (area) but decreased in magnetic complexity (more here). Sun spot regions AR3035, at the southwest limb (edge), and AR3034, near the solar equator, are moving out of sight, carried out by the sun rotation. The world’s solar physicists are still flying without SDO data, at the time of this writing. Some details below.

The sun, seen as a large yellow sphere with small dark spots.
Today’s sun activity with the most active regions labeled (0 UTC on June 28, 2022). Original image, without labels, via NASA SDO. Today’s sun is posted by Armando Caussade. Why are east and west on the sun reversed?

June 24 sun activity update: SDO site continues down

Today NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory – SDO – site continues out of service. SDO is one of the most comprehensive sun observatories … ever. A widespread power outage has closed the SDO Data Center, which is located at Stanford University in California. The Stanford Emergency Information site explains that the university’s main campus is operating under partial power due to a “PG&E supply disruption.” Until full power restoration, university staff will continue to maximize the use of available power to support high-priority buildings and services for students on campus. The energy outage may continue through the weekend, they said. So SDO data is temporarily unavailable. Click here to check the status of SDO site.

June 23, 2022, SWAP image of the sun in dark blue and its sunspots in lighter blue.
The June 23, 2022, solar corona viewed by the PROBA2/SWAP 174 Angstrom imager.  Via SolarMonitor.Org and PROBA2/SWAP.

June 23 update: Temporary SDO data outage

NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory – SDO – has been observing the sun continuously since 2010. At this writing, SDO data is temporarily unavailable because of a power outage on the Stanford University campus (the SDO data center is at Stanford). Data outages like this one might happen on occasion, due to things like power outages and server maintenance. Click here to check the status of SDO; if there’s no note saying it’s down … it’s probably back up! The most current coronal data available is from the ESA PROBA2/SWAP imager (see image above), which provides 174-angstrom images. SDO provides data at a wider range of wavelengths. Click here to learn how SDO sees the sun. Meanwhile, sun activity remains low. AR3038 is still the largest and most magnetically complex region on the visible disk. There is no significant change in the remaining spotted regions. Coronal brightening is observed on the limb (edge) of the sun’s North Pole, possibly due to activity on the far side of the sun (see tweet below).

June 22 update: AR3038 growing … growing

Sun activity remains low. Of the five active regions on the sun, AR3038 remains the most magnetically complex, with the most potential for more flares. It’s also growing more spots. The second-largest region – AR3030 – is less active. The largest of two C-flares over the past 24 hours came from AR3031, as it departed on the sun’s northwest limb (edge). This flare included a beautiful active prominence display. Additional prominences dance all around the sun’s edge.

June 21 update: AR3038 still growing

Happy June solstice! Today all of Earth celebrates the June solstice. The sun reaches its northernmost point in our sky. After today, the sun’s path will be shifting southward. There’s a big sunspot region on the sun now. Sunspot region AR3038 has increased in size, by the diameter of another Earth. In addition, three coronal holes have appeared on the solar disk. These will provide high-speed solar wind, expected to impact Earth on June 23.

Arrows pointing at 3 coronal holes.
Jun 21. 2022 Today the sun is showing three coronal holes on the solar disk. These are high speed solar wind producers. AIA 193 Image via SDO.

June 20 update: AR3038 has doubled in size

Sunspot region AR3038 has doubled in size, making it many times the size of Earth. And it has increased in magnetic complexity over the past 24 hours. It is the most productive flaring region on the sun at present, and harbors the most potential for more activity including possibly an M-class flare. Sun activity overall continues with low-level C flares from three of the six sunspot regions, AR3030, AR3031 and AR3038. The largest was a C5.7 flare from AR3038 at 06:28 UTC on June 20.

Yellow square (zoomed in image of the Sun) with black splotches (sunspots) white label (AR3038) and an Earth globe for scale.
Sunspot region AR3038 has doubled in size and increased in magnetic complexity over the past 24 hours. It is now several times the size of Earth. Image via SDO/HMI.

Video: A week of sun

To our readers and community

We invite you all to send us your beautiful recent photos of sunspots and auroras. We love receiving your photos! To those of you who’ve already posted a photo to our community, thank you.

Submit your image here

Large, fiery setting sun with clouds and small dark spots.
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Raúl Cortés in Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico, captured this rising sun on June 27, 2022. Active region 3040 is plainly visible in this image, as well as a flattening of the solar disc due to atmospheric refraction. Thank you, Raúl!
The sun, seen as a large orange sphere with a mottled surface.
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Mario Rana in Hampton, Virginia, captured this filtered image on June 26, 2022, and wrote: “Hydrogen-alpha image of the sun showing sunspot region AR3040 along with some nice prominences. Sunspot regions AR3034 and AR3038 are rotating out of view.” Thank you, Mario!
The sun, seen as a sectional yellowish sphere with a mottled surface.
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Randall Kayfes in Tucson, Arizona, captured this hydrogen-alpha filtered view of the sun on June 24, 2022, and wrote “Big prominence on the limb and sunspot 3038 giving a nice pose before rotating out of view!.” Thank you, Randall!
Closeup of the sun, it looks like an orange sphere on flames with a flame coming out on the upper side.
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | David Hoskin in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, captured this filtered image on June 23, 2022, and wrote: “This morning I captured this image of a very long filament transitioning into a prominence (a filaprom) on the western limb of our nearest star. This is one thick wall of plasma! The image is inverted to give the filaprom more of a 3 dimensional look. Sunspot group AR3038 (lower right), which will soon rotate out of view, is also visible.” Thank you David!

Earlier sun photographs

The sun, seen as yellowish sphere with dark spots.
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Eric Thurber in Boise, Idaho, captured this white light view of the sun on June 18, 2022, and wrote: “The clouds finally broke so I attached the solar filter and was finally able to capture a few sunspots.” Thank you, Eric!
The sun, seen as a sectional yellow sphere with a mottled surface.
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | David Hoskin in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, captured this filtered image on June 18, 2022, and wrote: “This hydrogen-alpha image shows the area around sunspots AR3032 and AR3030 near the northwest limb of the Sun. The central umbra of the sunspots appear white in this inverted image. The large filament near the center of the image spans nearly a quarter of the sun’s diameter! Dark areas of plage and several nice prominences are also visible.” Thank you, David!

Bottom line: Sun news for the week of June 20, 2022, included a beautiful CME with an unknown origin, from either the front side or back side of the sun, and some mild flares.

Why are east and west on the sun reversed?

Posted 
June 20, 2022
 in 
Space

C. Alex Young

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About the Author:
C. Alex Young is a solar astrophysicist studying the Sun and space weather. Alex is passionate about sharing science with diverse audiences. This led him to start The Sun Today with his designer wife, Linda. First through Facebook and Twitter then adding an extensive website thesuntoday.org, the two work together to engage the public about the Sun and its role in our solar system. Alex led national engagement efforts for the 2017 total solar eclipse. He is the Associate Director for Science in the Heliophysics Science Division at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.

Raúl Cortés

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About the Author:
Raúl Cortés studied engineering at the Autonomous University of Nuevo León in Monterrey, Mexico, obtained a scholarship to continue his studies in Japan and after returning to Monterrey he got credits on MBA from the Graduate School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering Faculty. He became a teacher at the University UANL teaching Math and Physics and dedicated the rest of his professional career to serve in engineering areas for USA, Japan and Germany based corporations. His passion for the skies go back to when he was a child, always intrigued about the stars and constellations and reading and researching about the matter. From 2010 on, he dedicated his attention to photographing the stars, constellations, the moon and the sun. Raúl's work on his photography has been published and posted on the ESC as well as in other platforms and has gained attention to be published by local Monterrey newspapers.

Michael Maimone

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About the Author:
Michael Maimone is an editorial assistant for EarthSky and has always had a strong passion for communicating scientific complexity in a way just about anyone can understand. Michael graduated from Penn State University in 2019 with dual Bachelor of Science degrees in Planetary Science & Astronomy and Meteorology & Atmospheric Science. He has experience in radio astronomy research with the Green Bank Observatory and even as a mission operations specialist for NASA’s Mars rovers Curiosity and Perseverance. He is currently working towards a master’s degree in space operations from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.

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