On 12/23/2024 at 5:36 AM, Echound said:

Hi all! I'm new here. Like some others here, I started following space weather more closely after seeing and photographing the aurora on May 10 and October 10, though I'm still very much a rookie in terms of knowledge about space weather.

I'm gonna start off with a question. A few weeks ago, the base level flux was around C1.2. At the time, some small C-level flares happened, like C2.0 flares, and were assigned to certain active regions.
At the moment, the base level flux is around C2.3. Am I correct in thinking that if a C2.0 flare happened now, it would not get assigned to a region, as it never passed the base level flux?
Would a M-level flare register and get assigned to an active region if it were to happen while a different region's X-level flare is in progress?

I probably should expand on this to avoid any confusion:  Assuming two flares were to occur in nearby regions the baseline flux will only change if the lower of the two exceeds the base level.  Activity is always seen and recorded by SUVI or SDO and typically updated regularly.  Region and unnamed registered flares currently are available via Solar Soft. I will post a link soon.  

Edited December 25, 2024Dec 25 by hamateur 1953
https://www.lmsal.com/solarsoft/latest_events/

Can communication and navigation be effected by geomagnetic storms? If so, is it always a negative impact?

8 minutes ago, saucy said:

Can communication and navigation be effected by geomagnetic storms? If so, is it always a negative impact?

- Solar flares ionise ionosphere, broadening the range of frequencies that are unable to travel from Earth to orbit and vice versa (up to few tens of MHz).
- Also, the same frequencies are reflected and may thus travel much farther (I guess it is a positive impact).

- Geomagnetic storms may result in even higher ionisation, but also mean there are currents induced by the varying magnetic field, which may add noise or even damage some circuits. Ionosphere is impacting slightly the GPS (or any GNSS) signal and higher ionisation rate may result in bigger errors in navigation.

- If you are old-school and very well positioned, you may power your communication mean (telegraph?) with the currents induced by the geomagnetic disturbance during a storm.

- Additionally, there are effects like Joule heating leading to expansion of the atmosphere -> faster orbital decay of low positioned satellites, which may lead to loss of the communication means.

- We could also list higher radiation dosage in van Allen belts during the storms or the magnetopause going within GEO, exposing the geostationary satellites to the solar wind.

 

I think these are roughly all the significant ways both communication and navigation are affected.

12 hours ago, linkedwinters said:

Hi. This might be a suuuper stupid question, but I'm going to ask regardless cause I'm just so curious. I've done no research on space weather, only having picked up things that would help me to see auroras and northern lights. But I'm curious, what are those black parts in the coronagraph? I don't remember seeing them before, but I could be wrong

If this might be what you're talking about I labled them for you.

A bit more complete (sorry @Parabolic 😇)

9 hours ago, MJOdorczuk said:

- Solar flares ionise ionosphere, broadening the range of frequencies that are unable to travel from Earth to orbit and vice versa (up to few tens of MHz).
- Also, the same frequencies are reflected and may thus travel much farther (I guess it is a positive impact).

- Geomagnetic storms may result in even higher ionisation, but also mean there are currents induced by the varying magnetic field, which may add noise or even damage some circuits. Ionosphere is impacting slightly the GPS (or any GNSS) signal and higher ionisation rate may result in bigger errors in navigation.

- If you are old-school and very well positioned, you may power your communication mean (telegraph?) with the currents induced by the geomagnetic disturbance during a storm.

- Additionally, there are effects like Joule heating leading to expansion of the atmosphere -> faster orbital decay of low positioned satellites, which may lead to loss of the communication means.

- We could also list higher radiation dosage in van Allen belts during the storms or the magnetopause going within GEO, exposing the geostationary satellites to the solar wind.

 

I think these are roughly all the significant ways both communication and navigation are 

I liked your post.  However concerning Radio Frequency propagation things can really become quite complex. Especially from 1.8 to 30 mhz. Our ionosphere consists of basically three layers:  The D layer  ( lowest)  The E layer (middle) at around 100 km. Lastly the F layer which is the highest.   Geomagnetic storms can wreak havoc with our lower frequencies and are definitely disliked by almost all High Frequency Hams.  They also deplete our  free electrons which may take a day or two to recover from a heavy storm.  This is a simplification of a very complex interaction naturally also.  Our higher frequencies are disrupted all the way to 220 mc also.  X flares definitely disrupt GPS too. My younger brother is a licensed surveyor and they actually have a separate advisory in Washington State pertaining to these events.  However not a direct warning system yet.  Edit: there was an excellent exception to the above on our VHF allocations by another member @Glow Coat awhile back in the Amateur Radio section if anyone has the interest.   Tnx. Mike. 

Edited December 25, 2024Dec 25 by hamateur 1953
Referring to VHF aurora

14 hours ago, hamateur 1953 said:

The fact that neutrinos seem to have been proven to travel faster than photons is indeed a very big deal @Archmonoth  and also have been proven to NOT be massless after all.  Yeah it certainly was pertinent!  Haha. Edit. Although it leads into Quantum weirdness again darnit!!  🤣🤣🤣

 

There was some controversy for the speed experiment, but Neutrinos don't go faster than light. Their speed is like .98 to 1.012, the range is due to the sensitivity of our instruments. Then after more testing, the massless neutrinos seem to go the same speed as light. Here is an article about the speed controversy: Once Again, Physicists Debunk Faster-Than-Light Neutrinos | Science | AAAS

 

Ill continue this neutrino conversation via direct messaging. I have a couple more links, since this isn't thread topic. 

59 minutes ago, Archmonoth said:

 

There was some controversy for the speed experiment, but Neutrinos don't go faster than light. Their speed is like .98 to 1.012, the range is due to the sensitivity of our instruments. Then after more testing, the massless neutrinos seem to go the same speed as light. Here is an article about the speed controversy: Once Again, Physicists Debunk Faster-Than-Light Neutrinos | Science | AAAS

 

Ill continue this neutrino conversation via direct messaging. I have a couple more links, since this isn't thread topic. 

I sent you a DM last evening pertaining to this. Perhaps you have not checked yet.  Mike.   Hey @Archmonoth  Happy Holidays from Newbie!!  Incidentally you have another PM from me. 

Edited December 25, 2024Dec 25 by hamateur 1953

I have a very "stupid" question
But I think Lasco is making it seem like the sun has a meteor shower

Silly question-- what is this? Space dust? 

13 minutes ago, auclectic said:

Silly question-- what is this? Space dust? 

Thanks for sharing the image, I don't know why it didn't let me compete.

It looks like a meteor shower for the sun.

Although I don't know if it's a mistake 

21 hours ago, Archmonoth said:

 

There was some controversy for the speed experiment, but Neutrinos don't go faster than light. Their speed is like .98 to 1.012, the range is due to the sensitivity of our instruments. Then after more testing, the massless neutrinos seem to go the same speed as light. Here is an article about the speed controversy: Once Again, Physicists Debunk Faster-Than-Light Neutrinos | Science | AAAS

 

Ill continue this neutrino conversation via direct messaging. I have a couple more links, since this isn't thread topic. 

I don’t know why you’re not getting notifications, however ifya read this @Archmonoth another pm in your inbox. Mike 

On 12/25/2024 at 10:55 AM, Parabolic said:

If this might be what you're talking about I labled them for you.

 

On 12/25/2024 at 1:37 PM, Vancanneyt Sander said:

A bit more complete (sorry @Parabolic 😇)

I think they were asking about the darker-than-background "coronal streamers"

On 12/25/2024 at 11:58 PM, auclectic said:

Silly question-- what is this? Space dust? 

Not silly at all 🙂 It basically refers to everything smaller than objects that are obviously held together by mass and gravity. Almost literally dust like we experience on Earth in a way. The galaxy is filled with particles of broken planets, dead comets, pulverised rocks etc. Often you'll see things referred to as gas and dust, as there are also huge clouds of hydrogen just chilling out there amongst the dust as well. It's often referred to as the interstellar medium and fills most of the space between the stars in the galaxy.

On 12/26/2024 at 12:58 AM, auclectic said:

Silly question-- what is this? Space dust? 

Sometimes the spacecraft gets hit by tiny fragments. When it hits the insulation for example some debris can come off and when it passes the sensors it creates these strange patterns.

On 12/15/2024 at 3:19 PM, sf-x said:

Why are solar flares limited to 8 minutes from onset to peak? (in two-stage flares the duration can be doubled and CMEs are not included)

Does anyone know the answer to this?

6 hours ago, sf-x said:

Does anyone know the answer to this?

The question doesn't really make much sense if you ask me, since it's predicated on the false assumption that Solar flares are limited to 8 minutes from onset to peak; single flares can take much longer than that from onset to peak, even if there's no CME involved.

I think I read a description regarding how they are “ ramped” somewhere awhile back.  Having to do with monotonic increases over a one minute period. But @Philalethes is absolutely correct. I was looking also at their specific waveforms for another reason last year.  Wow. What a mess. No two are alike despite radiation over the same bandwidth.  We see a nice ramp, but the facts are quite different indeed! 

6 hours ago, Philalethes said:

The question doesn't really make much sense if you ask me, since it's predicated on the false assumption that Solar flares are limited to 8 minutes from onset to peak; single flares can take much longer than that from onset to peak, even if there's no CME involved.

I can't say whether it makes sense or not. I've been watching this for over a year now. There are some exceptions, but they're very, very few. If you pay attention from now on, you'll see that's the case.   

 

(It gets more complicated to measure this in areas where there are dense and close sunspots. I think there is a situation where they trigger each other.)

 

By the way, I stated 8 minutes as the maximum time. Most of them are 5-6 minutes.

Edited December 28, 2024Dec 28 by sf-x

19 minutes ago, sf-x said:

By the way, I stated 8 minutes as the maximum time. Most of them are 5-6 minutes.

Solar flares are a sudden release of energy on the Sun, that’s why many solar flares from onset to peak are pretty short in duration. But with filament eruptions (lower in x-ray flux) the time between onset and peak can take a lot longer. 

What region is giving this high background flux?

1 hour ago, Ukrspotter said:

What region is giving this high background flux?

And now it's sliding along just above the M line.

Some sort of long flare, but from where?

The xray flux is at a constant M level! What does that usually mean?

2 hours ago, Ukrspotter said:

What region is giving this high background flux?

A region in the western limb near the north, I can’t send a screenshot though I’m not sure why 

 

its AR 3929

Edited December 29, 2024Dec 29 by yahya
added region

In science as in engineering there is no such thing as a silly or pathetic question. The only stupid question is the question not asked. Even the great Galileo hit a wall with his knowledge only to use god as a conclusion. It then took masses of great people who stood on his shoulders to further the advancement of his studies and progress to the field of answers we have today.