Solar Storm Watch: A Large Canyon-shaped Hole Faces Earth / Sunset Sky Show Tonight

A large, canyon-shaped hole has opened in the sun’s atmosphere, and it is spewing a stream of solar wind directly toward Earth. NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory photographed the structure, which stretches more than halfway across the face of the sun.

Coronal holes are regions where the sun’s magnetic field opens up and allows solar wind to escape.

NASA’s STEREO spacecraft recently sampled the stream flowing from this hole and the velocity was unusually high: nearly 750 km/s. Such a fast-moving stream will likely spark Arctic auroras when it arrives on Feb. 1st.

SUNSET SKY SHOW: When the sun goes down tonight, step outside and look southwest. The crescent Moon is joining bright Venus and red Mars to form a triangle in the sunset sky. Try to catch them before the sky fades to black. A conjunction of bright planets framed by twilight blue is extra beautiful.

Geomagnetic Storm Watch. A high speed solar wind stream above 600 km/s is now moving past Earth. Enhanced geomagnetic activity, possibly reaching minor (G1) storm levels will be possible during the next 24 hours. Sky watchers at higher latitudes should be alert for visible aurora.

NOAA SPACE WEATHER PREDICTION CENTER. A G1 (Minor) Geomagnetic Storm Watch is valid beginning on 31 January through 01 February 2017 (UTC days) due the anticipated arrival of a co-rotating interaction region in advance of a recurrent, negative polarity coronal hole high-speed stream. Solar Wind Speed: 647 km/sec. Solar Wind Magnetic Fields: Bt 9 nT, Bz 5 nT

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 NASA/SDO, NOAA/SWPC,

solarham.com

http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/
http://www.spaceweather.com/
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/20…
http://www.spaceweather.com/

http://www.solarham.net/