Sharing my friend's Top Of #Cycle25 excitement.

#hamr
#hamradio

Space Weather

Our sun is a just a little more active this weekend. There have been five flares larger than M-level in the past 48 hours or so, compared to only one between 15 and 20 Feb.

Flares and peak times are below in UT.

M3.3 12h10 UT 21 Feb
M1.4 14h30 UT 21 Feb
M4.9 02h12 UT 23 Feb
M1.0 09h56 UT 23 Feb
M1.6 11h56 UT 23 Feb

There are suggestions that we may see a second peak for "Solar Max" thanks to the sun's northern hemisphere being slower than the south in flipping its magnetic field.

Read more via the link below.

https://swling.com/blog/2025/02/a-second-solar-max-peak/

#spaceweather
#cycle25
#solarmax

A Second Solar Max Peak?

  SOLAR MAX — IS A SECOND PEAK COMING? Last October, NOAA and NASA announced that Solar Max has arrived. Only half the sun got the memo. The majority of solar activity has been happening…

The SWLing Post

“As a result of this low skill in our forecasts, #SpaceX saw 20 kilometers of position error in their one-day computations. If we’re uncertain in where our spacecraft are by 20 kilometers, then you can throw collision avoidance out the window.”

https://spacenews.com/geomagnetic-storms-cause-mass-migrations-of-satellites/

#Space #Satellites #SpaceSustainability #Atmosphere #Cycle25 #SolarCycle #SSA

Geomagnetic storms cause “mass migrations” of satellites

A pair of major geomagnetic storms this year led to unprecedented “mass migrations” of thousands of satellites in low Earth orbit that create new concerns about space traffic coordination.

SpaceNews

"The sharp altitude decay of SL1089 revealed by TLE data coincides with the storm main phase onset. Therefore, we call for future research to establish the eventual causal relationship between storm occurrence and satellite orbital decay."

https://arxiv.org/abs/2411.01654v1

#Space #SpaceSustainability #Cycle25 #SolarStorm

The 10 October 2024 geomagnetic storm may have caused the premature reentry of a Starlink satellite

In this short communication, we qualitatively analyze possible effects of the 10 October 2024 geomagnetic storm on accelerating the reentry of a Starlink satellite from very low-Earth orbit (VLEO). The storm took place near the maximum of solar cycle (SC) 25, which has shown to be more intense than SC24. Based on preliminary geomagnetic indices, the 10 October 2024, along with the 10 May 2024, were the most intense events since the well-known Halloween storms of October/November 2003. By looking at a preliminary version of the Dst index and altitudes along with velocities extracted from two-line element (TLE) data of the Starlink-1089 (SL-1089) satellite, we observe a possible connection between storm main phase onset and a sharp decay of SL-1089. The satellite was predicted to reenter on 22 October, but it reentered on 12 October, 10 days before schedule. The sharp altitude decay of SL-1089 revealed by TLE data coincides with the storm main phase onset. We compare the de-orbiting altitudes of another three satellites during different geomagnetic conditions and observe that the day difference between actual and predicted reentries increases for periods with higher geomagnetic activity. Therefore, we call for future research to establish the eventual causal relationship between storm occurrence and satellite orbital decay. As predicted by previous works, SC25 is already producing extreme geomagnetic storms with unprecedented satellite orbital drag effects and consequences for current megaconstellations in VLEO.

arXiv.org

The sun is reaching the peak of its 11-year activity cycle. Scientists said Tuesday that they conclude the sun is at the peak of "Cycle 25" and will remain there for another year or so before activity starts to subside. That peak of activity has resulted in brilliant auroral displays, but solar storms that produce auroras also threaten satellites and the electrical grid. https://www.space.com/solar-cycle-25-max-phase-more-sun-storms

Photo: WAS Member Regina Olshan captures the Aurora over the Westport Observatory

#Aurora #NorthernLights #WestportObservatory #WestportAstronomicalSociety #WestportCT #SolarCycle25 #Cycle25

Solar Cycle 25 is still in max phase, so more aurora-boosting sun storms could be coming

'We're anticipating another year or so of maximum phase before we really enter the declining phase.'

Space
Coming next, when I get around to it: solar influences. I have several years of data from the period between the minimum to the maximum of the current solar cycle. Even at my moderately light-polluted site, I can see the influence of solar activity on night-sky brightness here. #SolarCycle #Cycle25 #Sun

Today's H-alpha #Sun in moderate seeing conditions at 17:10 UTC. There was a tremendous loop prominence on the Sun's southwest limb that persisted following a long-duration M5.5 and resulting CME about five hours earlier. Shows up beautifully in the SDO AIA 171Å image too.

#SolarAstronomy #SolarMax #Cycle25

Dr. Scott McIntosh Cycle 25 Update August 14 2024

YouTube

Solar Cycle 25 continues the trend of much higher sunspot activity than originally forecast, with the latest sunspot number for July (196.5) nearly double the predicted value (106.4).

#spaceweather #spacewx #solarcycle #solarcycle25 #cycle25