Coronal hole faces Earth, Sunspot region 2797

Monday, 18 January 2021 14:03 UTC

Coronal hole faces Earth, Sunspot region 2797

The northern hemisphere polar coronal hole which has an extension southwards has been facing Earth the past few days. A solar wind stream flowing from this coronal hole is expected to influence our planet in the coming three days. Geomagnetic conditions up to a maximum of Kp4 (active geomagnetic conditions) are possible starting today up till Wednesday (20 January). Solar wind speeds of well over 500km/s were observed last month when this same coronal hole faced our planet.

Sunspot region 2797

New sunspot region 2797 has rotated into view from the south-east limb. We see at least three sunspots and some faculae which could indicate this sunspot region has decayed while on the far side. It is not a candidate to produce strong solar flares at the moment but we will keep an eye on it in case more sunspots start to develop.

Sunspot region 2797
Sunspot region 2797 as seen by SDO/HMI.

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