Sun activity: Filaments and other fiery details

Sun activity for April 16, 2023: Filaments and other fiery details

Today’s top news: Sun activity returned to low levels during the past day, with only C flares on the Earth-viewed side of our star. But take a look at our top animation for lots of mesmerizing action. Find a coronal mass ejection (CME) on the northwest quadrant and an exploding filament on the northeast, occurring almost at the same time. Beautiful ejecta can be seen on the southeast quadrant. And, on the northwest, you can see a giant filament explosion. Finally – also in the top animation – there’s a jet-prominence on the southwest. It can be noted it comes from the far side. Can’t see it? Check out the closeup animation below. Keep looking at the animation above. You might find more details of your own to enjoy. All in all, fiery activity all around our side of the sun, is still considered low-level activity!
Last 24 hours: In all, over the past day (between 11 UTC yesterday and 11 UTC today), there were 18 C flares. That was the total flaring produced during the period. The largest was a C5.4 flare blasted at 17:23 UTC on April 15, 2023 by sunspot AR3280. Two sunspot regions shared first place on flare productivity, AR3280 and AR3281, with six C flares each. Both now show a beta-gamma configuration, indicating (possibly) a potential for more flaring. AR3282 reduced its flare production of yesterday (when it had high magnetic complexity, two M flares and 11 Cs) to only three Cs during the past day. The Earth-side of our star today bears eight  labeled active regions.
Next 24 hours: The forecast is a 99% chance for C flares, a 50% chance for M flares, and a 10% chance for X flares.
Next expected CME: There was a coronal mass ejection (CME) observed on the northeast solar quadrant associated with an erupting filament at 12:24 UTC on April 15. Another eruption centered in the southwest occurred at around 16:40 UTC. These and other coronal imagery are under analysis to determine any possible Earth-oriented component. Otherwise, no Earth-bound CMEs were observed over the past day.
Current geomagnetic activity: Quiet now. This condition will remain for the rest of the day. For tomorrow (April 17), there are slight chances for an unsettled Earth’s magnetic field due to a positive polarity high-speed solar wind from a coronal hole.

Sun activity for April 15, 2023: Newcomer sunspot AR3282 blasts 2 M flares

After several days of only C flares, sun activity has now reached moderate levels, with two M flares from AR3282 in the past day. This newcomer sunspot released an M1.1 at 16:18 UTC on April 14. And it released an M1.5 at 23:27 UTC on April 14. The two were minor impulsive flares (impulsivity refers to how quickly the initial energy release occurs). The most recent M flare before yesterday was on April 11. AR3282 is also today’s largest sunspot region on the Earth-viewed side of our star. It’s currently showing a beta magnetic configuration. Meanwhile, AR3280 – on the southwest solar quadrant – is the region currently showing the highest magnetic complexity of the day (beta-gamma). A more complex magnetic structure suggests a greater likelihood for solar flares. But you never know. Meanwhile, take a last look, in our animation below, at the 2023 passage of Jupiter beyond the sun, as seen by the LASCO C2 imager on NASA’s SOHO spacecraft. The image is from yesterday, April 14. Jupiter reached superior conjunction on April 11. It has now gone out of the field of the view of SOHO’s instruments, but it’s heading for a return to our eastern predawn sky in the weeks ahead. Visit EarthSky’s night sky guide.
Last 24 hours: Sun activity is moderate. There were 19 C flares and two M flares produced between 11 UTC yesterday and 11 UTC today. The largest was an M1.5 flare, blasted by sunspot AR3282 at 23:27 UTC on April 14. AR3282 was the leading producer with 11 flares, the two M flares included. After each M flare, corresponding R1 (minor) radio blackouts were registered. The first affected an area over the east Caribbean and the second over the Pacific Ocean, north of New Guinea. There are nine labeled active regions on the Earth-side of our sun today. Is sun activity picking up? We’ll see.

Sun activity for April 14, 2023: Quiet, but the sunspots keep coming

A couple of days ago, the sun showed only two sunspots on its Earth-viewed side. Now our star – as seen from Earth – has nine sunspots! Here’s a breakdown of the sunspots today:
AR3272 in the SW
AR3273 in the NW
AR3275 in the NE
AR3276 in the SE
AR3278 in the NW
AR3279 in the SE
AR3280 in the SW
AR3281 in the SE
AR3282 in the NE
Last 24 hours: Sun activity is still low. There were 10 C flares produced between 11 UTC yesterday and 11 UTC today. The largest was a C8.5, blasted by sunspot AR3272 at 11:07 UTC on April 13. AR3281 was the leading producer with four flares out of the 10. We have three newcomer sunspots today. AR3280 emerged from the sun’s southwest quadrant. AR3281 came into view on the southeast limb (edge). And AR3282 appeared on the northeast limb. We saw a jet blasted at around 16 UTC on April 13. It came from a region on the far side of our sun, which the sun’s rotation will soon carry into our view. See the animation below. With nine active regions, will sun activity pick up? We’ll see.

Sun activity for April 13, 2023: The splitting of AR3276, and solar deja vu

Sun activity is low. But what happened to sunspot region AR3276? Turns out it split into two, much as AR3270 did on April 4. Solar deja vu! Since before it rotated into view on the sun’s southeast limb (edge) a few days ago, AR3276 has been the source of experts’ expectations. For one thing, it blasted an M flare plus a number of Cs, even before it was fully visible. Then, shortly after it rotated enough into view enough to get a label, it showed a beta configuration. There were hints it could be spreading out. Finally, early today, AR3270 was seen to have split into two separate sunspots. The “new” active region that emerged from AR3276’s vicinity was given a separate label: AR3279. And the newly numbered AR3279 thereby became the leader in flare production over the past day, with 13 C flares.

Last 24 hours: Sun activity is low, with only C flares. But flare productivity picked up over the past day, in contrast to the day before. We saw a total of 16 flares from 11 UTC yesterday to 11 UTC today. As explained above, the main producer was the newcomer AR3279, on the sun’s southeast quadrant, with 13 C flares out of the 16 C flares produced in the past day. The largest was a C6.1, blasted at 11:53 UTC on April 12, 2023. There are currently seven labeled active regions on the Earth-viewed side of the sun. Remember just a few days ago, when there were only two?

Sun activity for April 12, 2023: Low, but check this out

Going against the trend of the past few days, sun activity is low. See detail below. But some we noticed some interesting sights around our star today. Brilliant Jupiter – our solar system’s biggest planet – reached its superior conjunction yesterday, traveling more or less behind the sun. The LASCO C2 instrument aboard the SOHO spacecraft – which moves around the sun in step with Earth, orbiting around the 1st Lagrangian point in the Earth-sun system (L-1) – caught it. See LASCO’s view of Jupiter in the animation below. Also, EarthSky friend Steven Bellavia captured a photo of the sun’s innermost planet Mercury this week with a beautiful comet-like tail. This is Mercury’s sodium tail, and it’s rarely seen. Read more about it here, and see Steve’s image below. Gorgeous! Thanks, Steve!

Last 24 hours: Sun activity is low. From 11 UTC yesterday to 11 UTC today, we saw only five C class flares. The largest was a C5.9, blasted by AR3272 at 22:42 UTC on April 11. The low activity goes against the trend of the past few days, during which AR3276 blasted an M flare from the sun’s far side, shortly before the sun’s rotation carried it into view. Despite the low activity, we spotted a couple of coronal mass ejections, as detailed below. The lead flare producer of the past day was AR3276: just two C flares. We said activity was low! There are currently five labeled active regions on the Earth-viewed side of the sun.

Sun activity for April 11, 2023: Meet AR3276

Sun activity is moderate, but we’ve seen action on the southeast limb (edge). A newcomer has been blasting flares, including yesterday’s M2.8 flare. Over the past day (11 UTC yesterday to 11 UTC today), AR3276 produced 10 C flares even before coming fully into view. Finally it was labeled; specialists need to have full view of an active region to assign a new number. In all (both not in view and in view), AR3276 was today’s leading flare producer with 17 C flares. So this is the guy to watch! In the meantime, two other new sunspots were labeled, too: AR3274, which emerged very near the point where the solar central meridian and equator meet, and AR3275 on the northeast quadrant. These two have been stable and present no relevant activity. Stay with us.
Last 24 hours: Sun activity is moderate. The sun produced 25 C class flares and one M flare during the period from 11 UTC yesterday to 11 UTC today. The largest was an M1.3, blasted by AR3272 at 10:16 UTC on April 11. After the M flare an R1 (minor) radio blackout was observed affecting an area over Africa. AR3276 was the leading flare producer during the past day, with 17 flares. There are five labeled active regions on the Earth-viewed side of the sun.

The sun in recent days

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Bottom line: Sun activity for April 16, 2023 is back to low, with only C flares. But if you look closely at the Earth-side of our star, you’ll find interesting activity during the past day. Details here.