SOLAR ACTIVITY REPORT - 27 05 2024

May 27, 2024

ASTRO DOGS SOLAR ACTIVITY REPORT! ROUND UP OF RECENT SOLAR ACTIVITY, INCLUDING THE RETURN OF SUNSPOT REGION 3664, THE REGION RESPONSIBLE FOR THE HUGE GEOMAGNETIC STORM ON MAY 10TH!!! 💚💜💙✨️

Since our last solar report there has been some notable and interesting solar activity events.

While much of this activity will probably not result in much auroral activity here on Earth, it is still promising to see a lot of activity continuing on the Sun, and there are exciting signs from a few old friends that have now returned to the Earth facing side of the Sun.

For more information, please read on…

HUGE FILAMENT ERUPTION

On the 23rd May an extremely large solar filament stretching across the South East quadrant was observed. This filament was so large that it measured over 217,000 miles in length and the plasma creating the filament was seen extending outwards off the limb (circumference of the Sun) leading into what is known as a solar prominence.

This filament was also seen to be eruptive with the eruption occurring at around 00:00 UTC, flinging plasma and energised particles off into space. However, sadly due to its location and trajectory, it's thought to have launched the charged particles away from Earth.

M CLASS FLARE FROM AR 3679

Also on May the 23rd at 02:16 UTC an M4.2 solar flare was observed around AR 3679. Sadly, this was also approaching the West limb at the time and was impulsive in nature, so no charged particles are likely to be heading towards Earth from this event.

OTHER SOLAR FLARE ACTIVITY

There were several more flares/eruptions around this time featuring AR3679, AR 3685 and 3686 including minor C Class flares and moderate M class flares. However most of these appear to have been impulsive in nature with no CME associated or if eruptive, were directed away from Earth.

One of these eruptions did lead to a faint CME that is thought to be mostly heading away from Earth, however it was thought that this might lead to a glancing blow of energised particles and led to speculation of a minor geomagnetic disturbance around the 26th.

Don’t get too excited about this event however, if any of the material from this CME does arrive here we would only be expecting a minor enhancement (if anything). Plus as the Moon is currently very bright and our window of dark skies is small, any minor auroral activity would be very hard to view/capture. However, as always we will continue to monitor the space weather stats and will let you all know if this does lead to any activity here on Earth.

THE RETURN OF AR 3664 (NOW NAMED AR 3691)

Now, onto two particularly exciting Sun spot regions from the last rotation!

Sunspot region 3663, the region responsible for five X flares in the last rotation of the Sun has now rotated back into view from behind the North West limb. This region will be newly assigned as AR3691 moving forwards. Sadly it looks like this region has diminished in magnetic complexity somewhat on its journey around the Sun and therefore any activity is likely to be subdued, but it's still one to watch. You never know!

THE RETURN OF AR 3664

Now onto AR3664, the source of TWELVE X class flares between May 8th and May 15th and multiple Earth directed coronal mass ejections that led to the extreme geomagnetic storm over May 10th and 11th.

While no major coronal mass ejections were detected on the far side of the Sun since the full halo event on May the 20th, AR 3664 has now rotated back into view with a bang! Yes, AR 3664 is still active and decided to wave hello with an X2.9 solar flare at 07:08 UTC (May 27). This measurement is also likely to be an underestimate of its strength, given the region wasn't in direct view when this flare was measured. Coronagraph imagery has also confirmed that this eruption was indeed responsible for an energetic coronal mass ejection (CME).

SUMMARY

Whilst much of the recent solar activity has been minor or occurring in regions that aren't facing Earth, it is very exciting indeed to see the Sun is still very active and old regions 3663 and 3664 have survived their journey around the Sun. Of particular interest is AR 3664 which was responsible for the huge geomagnetic storm around May 10th and has already produced a large X Class solar flare.

Even though we are rapidly losing our darker skies as we head towards summer solstice and the Moon is up illuminating our night-time skies, the Moon is waning day by day and we are very excited to see what more AR 3663/3691 and AR 3664 have to offer as they rotate further into view and heads towards the Earth strike zone!

Will we see more auroral events such as the huge display witnessed on the 10th of May? We will see! Fingers crossed!