Enormous Sunspot today, and how to see it.

[beefheart]

There is a very large sunspot facing earth today, not sure if that is why we are having some telecom outages.

But, its a rare opportunity to see one with the naked eye. You will need eclipse glasses, or a good telescope solar filter.

DO NOT LOOK AT THE SUN WITHOUT PROPER FILTERS!

The spot currently is at about 9 o'clock on the disk of the sun, near the limb. An astronomy tip to see things like this, or looking at other objects is to look at the sun, but don't look at it directly. It sounds confusing, but its a technique that I've used many times when looking at Mars for details, or at dim objects.

More info at spaceweather.com

 

[SenorXm/Sirius]

Read it might affect cell services...

 

[beefheart]

Read it might affect cell services...

There is a picture at Spaceweather.com

DOUBLE X-CLASS SOLAR FLARE (UPDATED): Big sunspot AR3590 is as dangerous as it looks. Late yesterday (Feb. 21 @ 2307 UT), the active region produced a powerful X1.8-class solar flare with a shortwave radio blackout over the western USA and Pacific Ocean. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory recorded the extreme ultraviolet flash:

Hours later (Feb. 22 @ 0635), the sunspot erupted again, producing an almost identical X1.7-class flare. Neither explosion produced a bright CME. This means the double flares will *not* cause a geomagnetic storm on Earth.


More explosions are in the offing. AR3590 has an unstable 'beta-gamma-delta' magnetic field that harbors energy for additional X-class explosions

 

[MamboDervish]

As an ex-welder I know that welding glass rated 14 or higher are also suitable for sun viewing.

Of course, there’s always the “executive squint method” too.

The moment Donald Trump is warned not to look directly at the sun – video

The US president had to be cautioned against looking at the sun during a partial solar eclipse in Washington on Monday afternoon

www.theguardian.com

 

[uptower]

 

[Glitch]

There is a picture at Spaceweather.com

DOUBLE X-CLASS SOLAR FLARE (UPDATED): Big sunspot AR3590 is as dangerous as it looks. Late yesterday (Feb. 21 @ 2307 UT), the active region produced a powerful X1.8-class solar flare with a shortwave radio blackout over the western USA and Pacific Ocean. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory recorded the extreme ultraviolet flash:

Hours later (Feb. 22 @ 0635), the sunspot erupted again, producing an almost identical X1.7-class flare. Neither explosion produced a bright CME. This means the double flares will *not* cause a geomagnetic storm on Earth.


More explosions are in the offing. AR3590 has an unstable 'beta-gamma-delta' magnetic field that harbors energy for additional X-class explosions

There was also an X6.3 solar flare on February 22, 2024 at 5:34 PM EST. The largest solar flare thus far during Solar Cycle 25. However, it was not directed towards Earth and therefore had no effect.

Strongest Flare of the Current Solar Cycle | NOAA / NWS Space Weather Prediction Center

www.swpc.noaa.gov

 

[Superfly]

I don’t know. All I know is my cell service was down most of the day yesterday, and I don’t have AT&T. I figured it might have been because of the sunspots.

 

[Glitch]

I don’t know. All I know is my cell service was down most of the day yesterday, and I don’t have AT&T. I figured it might have been because of the sunspots.

It wasn't. It only reached a Kp level of 2.3. Before there is a geomagnetic storm that could possibly interfere with communications it needs to rise to a Kp level of 5 or better.

 

[Superfly]

It wasn't. It only reached a Kp level of 2.3. Before there is a geomagnetic storm that could possibly interfere with communications it needs to rise to a Kp level of 5 or better.

So back to the drawing board.

Thanks.

 

[Slartibartfast]

I don’t know. All I know is my cell service was down most of the day yesterday, and I don’t have AT&T. I figured it might have been because of the sunspots.

AT&T was generally having issues on a national level yesterday.

 

[Superfly]

AT&T was generally having issues on a national level yesterday.

But I don’t have AT&T. I don’t know why I was having service issues most of the day when I don’t even have them. I had SOS on my phone most of the day, and oddly enough, it was both on LTE (5G isn’t available in my location) and on WiFi.