Sun

Sun activity: CME on its way, possible arrival June 7

A blue chart with a black disk at center.
Here’s a look back to yesterday’s sun activity (June 4, 2023). It turns out that the beautiful last-minute filament eruption we reported yesterday, on the sun’s southwest quadrant – the one that could be seen lifting ejecta into space – registered a partial halo event via the SOHO spacecraft’s LASCO C3 imagery at around 12 UTC on June 4. A halo event is a sign that a CME might be Earth-bound. Image via NOAA.

Sun activity for June 5, 2023: CME on its way, possible arrival June 7

Today’s top news: Everybody’s talking about yesterday’s filament eruption on the southwest solar quadrant. As we reported yesterday, it hurled a coronal mass ejection (CME) into space. And a portion of the CME is coming our way. Preliminary analysis suggests a CME glancing blow by June 7, 2023. But do note that specialists still are working on further modeling and analysis of the event. The SOHO spacecraft’s LASCO C2 imager registered the blast at around 11:12 UTC. Then the LASCO C3 imager registered a partial halo one the southwest at around 12 UTC. Take a look to ENLIL model on our animation below. A more ample look at the blast shows the north part of the ejecta returning back to the sun. But the south portion did manage to escape into space.
Last 24 hours: Sun activity keeps at low levels. There were only C flares produced during the past day, from 11 UTC yesterday to 11 UTC today. Total production of the period was 15 flares with the largest being a C5.8 flare by active region AR3327. It was blasted out on the southeast limb (edge)  at 14:30 UTC on June 4, 2023. AR3327 was also the most active sunspot of the past day. It contributed with eight flares. This same active region was yesterday’s hero, too, when it had not been numbered yet. It is now being carried more fully into view by the sun’s rotation. Welcome, AR3327! Currently the sun bears seven labeled active regions on its Earth-facing side.
Next 24 hours: The forecast is a 99% chance for C flares, a 35% chance for M flares, and a 10% chance for X flares.
Next expected CME:  Besides the abovementioned coronal mass ejection (CME) – produced by a filament eruption at around 4 UTC on June 4 – no other Earth-directed CMEs were observed on available imagery on the past day.
Current geomagnetic activity: The expected geomagnetic storm arrived as a Kp = 4 (no NOAA scale) turbulence of the magnetic field. Threshold reached at 20:59 UTC on June 4. At the time of this writing (11 UTC, June 4), Earth’s magnetic field is quiet again. But there is a slight chance for a G1 (minor) geomagnetic storm during the rest of the day today, due fast solar wind from a large coronal hole. This hole is now located on the sun’s southwest limb (edge), about to go out of view. But there are two new coronal holes forming on our side of the solar disk. One is on the sun’s northeast quadrant, and a larger is on the southeast. For now, unsettled conditions are expected for June 6.

A red sun shows a filament explosion.
Here’s a more ample view of the filament eruption we saw on June 4, 2023, on the sun’s southwest quadrant. You can see part of the ejecta returning back to the sun. Butthe most southern portion of the blast reached out into space. Image via SDO.
A chart showing an animation of solar wind traveling into space.
ENLIL chart model created on June 5, 2023, shows a coronal mass ejection hurled into space coming our way. Preliminary analysis suggests a June 7 arrival at Earth. Image via NOAA.
The sun, seen as a large yellow sphere with dark spots, each labeled.
This image shows sun activity – with the most active regions labeled – as of (5 UTC on June 5, 2023). Original image, without labels, via NASA SDO. Courtesy of NASA/SDO and the AIA, EVE, and HMI science teams, with labeling by EarthSky. Today’s sun is posted by Armando Caussade. Why are east and west on the sun reversed?

The sun in recent days

The sun, seen as a large yellow sphere with dark spots, each labeled.
This image shows sun activity – with the most active regions labeled – as of 7 UTC on June 4, 2023. Original image, without labels, via NASA/ SDO. Courtesy of NASA/ SDO and the AIA, EVE, and HMI science teams, with labeling by EarthSky.
The sun, seen as a large yellow sphere with dark spots, each labeled.
This image shows sun activity – with the most active regions labeled – as of 7 UTC on June 3, 2023. Original image, without labels, via NASA/ SDO. Courtesy of NASA/ SDO and the AIA, EVE, and HMI science teams, with labeling by EarthSky.
The sun, seen as a large yellow sphere with dark spots, each labeled.
This image shows sun activity – with the most active regions labeled – as of 3 UTC on June 2, 2023. Original image, without labels, via NASA/ SDO. Courtesy of NASA/ SDO and the AIA, EVE, and HMI science teams, with labeling by EarthSky.
The sun, seen as a large yellow sphere with dark spots, each labeled.
This image shows sun activity – with the most active regions labeled – as of 3 UTC on June 1, 2023. Original image, without labels, via NASA/ SDO. Courtesy of NASA/ SDO and the AIA, EVE, and HMI science teams, with labeling by EarthSky.
The sun, seen as a large yellow sphere with dark spots, each labeled.
This image shows sun activity – with the most active regions labeled – as of 4 UTC on May 31, 2023. Original image, without labels, via NASA/ SDO. Courtesy of NASA/ SDO and the AIA, EVE, and HMI science teams, with labeling by EarthSky.
The sun, seen as a large yellow sphere with dark spots, each labeled.
This image shows sun activity – with the most active regions labeled – as of 4 UTC on May 30, 2023. Original image, without labels, via NASA/ SDO. Courtesy of NASA/ SDO and the AIA, EVE, and HMI science teams, with labeling by EarthSky.
The sun, seen as a large yellow sphere with dark spots, each labeled.
This image shows sun activity – with the most active regions labeled – as of 6 UTC on May 29, 2023. Original image, without labels, via NASA/ SDO. Courtesy of NASA/ SDO and the AIA, EVE, and HMI science teams, with labeling by EarthSky.

More sun images from our community

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

Submit photos here

View community photos here

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 3, 2023. Mario wrote: “Hydrogen-alpha image of the sun featuring active regions AR3323 and AR3321.” Thank you, Mario!
The sun, seen as a large white sphere with small dark spots.
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Patricio León in Santiago, Chile, captured this filtered image of the sun on May 31, 2023. Patricio wrote: “Beautiful groups AR3315 and 3319 locked at pretty much the same south latitude.” Thank you, Patricio!
Orange sun setting over the ocean, with the silhouette of a ship at a distance.
View at EarthSky Community Photos | Meiying Lee in Taipei, Taiwan, captured this setting sun on May 27, 2023, where sunspots AR3310 and AR3315 are prominently visible. Meiying wrote “Just before the arrival of the typhoon, the sky in Taiwan was exceptionally clear. I specifically went to the seaside and captured the phenomenon of a sun mirage during the sunset, amidst the beautiful red hues scattered across the sky. Two groups of sunspots were also recorded, but others were blocked by clouds. At that moment, a ship happened to pass in front of the sun, making the steam emitted by the ship’s chimney particularly visible due to its proximity to the sun.” Beautiful shot. Thank you, Meiying!
Two yellowish half-spheres side-by-side, representing the sun.
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | David Hoskin in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, captured these filtered views of the sun on May 27, 2023. David wrote “I captured these filtered images of the Sun in white light (left) and hydrogen alpha (right) on Saturday afternoon. Several sunspot groups, areas of plage, and many filaments/prominences are visible, indicating considerable activity.” Great comparison. Thank you, David!

Bottom line: June 5, 2023, sun activity. A coronal mass ejection (CME) is coming our way. Preliminary analysis suggests June 7 arrival. Meanwhile, a Kp = 4 disturbance was registered on Earth’s magnetic field over the past day.

Posted 
June 5, 2023
 in 
Sun

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