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(meteorobs) Aurora Info
Reference Pages for Aurora Info:
http://www.gi.alaskadot edu/cgi-bin/predict.cgi
http://www.gi.alaskadot edu/aurora_predict/map8/270.html
http://sec.noaadot gov/pmap/
http://sec.noaadot gov/Aurora/
http://www.spaceweather.com/
GEOSTORM: A coronal mass
ejection that billowed away from the
Sun
on Monday, Sept. 24th, struck
Earth's
magnetosphere around 2100 UT on
Tuesday, Sept. 25th. The impact at
first
seemed to herald widespread auroras.
Instead, it triggered
only a moderate (G2-class)
geomagnetic storm with bright
Northern Lights confined to magnetic
latitudes greater than
~55 degrees (e.g., northern Europe,
Alaska, Canada, and
the northern tier of US states).
Although the geomagnetic storm is
diminishing, it might not
be over yet. High-latitude observers
in dark-sky areas
should remain alert for auroras on
Wednesday, especially
around local midnight when magnetic
substorms could
unleash brief but vivid displays.
RADIATION STORM: On Monday, Sept.
24th, a
powerful explosion above sunspot
9632 hurled a lopsided
halo coronal mass ejection toward
our planet and sparked a
brilliant X2.6-class solar flare.
Since then Earth has been
surrounded by unusually large
numbers of energetic
protons -- mostly accelerated by the
approaching coronal
mass ejection (CME). The radiation
storm, which has
delayed the launch of a Kodiak Star
rocket in Alaska, was
still going strong on Wednesday,
Sept. 26th.
ANOTHER FLARE: An M8-class solar
flare erupted
above sunspot 9628 on Sept. 25th at
0440 UT -- the second
strong flare in as many days from
that general region of the
Sun. SOHO coronagraph images, which
are cloudy
because of the ongoing radiation
storm, reveal no bright
Earth-directed CME associated with
this event.
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