Sunday, 12 August 2018 15:52 UTC
We are approaching solar minimum so sunspots and solar flares have become a rare sight. Even coronal holes have migrated to higher latitudes but we are in luck today as a southward extension of the northern hemisphere polar coronal hole faces our planet today.
A transequatorial coronal hole is facing Earth. Enhanced solar wind could arrive in ~3 days. Follow live on https://t.co/bsXLidnzGh pic.twitter.com/ggNRIW6mRW
— SpaceWeatherLive (@_SpaceWeather_) August 12, 2018
As you can see on the images above provided by NASA SDO and our automated Twitter alert system, this coronal hole originates from the Sun's north pole. The coronal hole however has a southward extension that follows a very long and narrow path all the way to the solar equator. This means solar wind flowing this coronal hole has a good chance to arrive at our planet which could occur on 15 August.
We do not expect geomagnetic storm conditions but active geomagnetic conditions (Kp4) are possible which is good news for sky watchers at high latitude locations.
Thank you for reading this article! Did you have any trouble with the technical terms used in this article? Our help section is the place to be where you can find in-depth articles, a FAQ and a list with common abbreviations. Still puzzled? Just post on our forum where we will help you the best we can!
A lot of people come to SpaceWeatherLive to follow the Sun's activity or if there is aurora to be seen, but with more traffic comes higher server costs. Consider a donation if you enjoy SpaceWeatherLive so we can keep the website online!
Last X-flare | 2024/12/08 | X2.2 |
Last M-flare | 2024/12/22 | M1.1 |
Last geomagnetic storm | 2024/12/17 | Kp5+ (G1) |
Spotless days | |
---|---|
Last spotless day | 2022/06/08 |
Monthly mean Sunspot Number | |
---|---|
November 2024 | 152.5 -13.9 |
December 2024 | 103.3 -49.2 |
Last 30 days | 114 -43.9 |