This article reminds me of the old story:

Guy tells a friend: "I see spots before my eyes!"

Friend: "Have you seen a doctor?"

"No, just spots!"

Astro Bob: Let's Count Sunspots
"The original forecast for the current cycle, dubbed Cycle 25, was made in 2019 with the peak predicted for this upcoming July. However, more recent forecasts hint that we reached maximum in late 2024, so we may have already passed the peak. A more definitive answer will have to wait until the sun enters a slump. Then we'll be able to look back with hindsight and better frame the time."
https://www.duluthnewstribune.com/lifestyle/astro-bob/astro-bob-lets-count-sunspots

#sunspots #astronomy #Cycle25

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

“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

"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 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

Coucher de soleil du 22 août 2024.

Sunset of August 22, 2024.

#instagram #coucherdesoleil #sunset #soleil #sun #tachesolaire #sunspots #cyclesolaire #cyclesolar #cycle25 #canon #canonphoto #eos #1000d

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 #Cycle25 Update August 14 2024 - #YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yj3TcoajK_o&t=3s
#HamRadio #AmateurRadio #SpaceWeather #SunSpots #HF #shortwave #SWL

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

"A positive insight from this storm is that it helped to hasten the decay of debris objects from orbit while most #satellites escaped relatively unaffected."

https://arxiv.org/pdf/2406.08617

#SolarStorm #Cycle25 #Space #SpaceDebris #SpaceSustainability

Solar Cycle 25 continues to be far more active than originally forecast; the sunspot number for May '24 was ~70% higher than predicted, and well above the high end of the forecast for the Cycle 25 solar maximum, which is still more than a year away. #spaceweather #spacewx #solarcycle #solarcycle25 #cycle25

Today's H-alpha #Sun in good seeing conditions at 17:00 UTC.

There are not many days on which H-alpha views of the Sun include prominences that visualize the magnetic field lines above active regions particularly well, but today is definitely one of those days.

#Astronomy #SolarAstronomy #Cycle25

Today's H-alpha Sun in good seeing at 17:35 UTC. The timing is such that I watched an X-class #SolarFlare develop over the span of about 15 minutes.

AR 3364/3368 is a real monster — easily one of the most impressive complexes of the #Cycle25 maximum.

A view of the #Sun today in hydrogen-alpha light under good seeing conditions. The combined complex of AR's 3664 and 3558 (below center) is a real monster with a complex 'beta-gamma-delta' magnetic field configuration. It has developed rapidly in the last 24 hours and is worth watching.

There was also a beautiful prominence on the Sun's southeast limb. Again, good seeing allowed for high magnification and the extraction of a lot of detail.

#Astronomy #SolarAstronomy #Cycle25

#cycle25 is looking quite different from the last one #hamradio #cqww #cqwwcw #cqwwssb

Today's H-alpha Sun at 17:15 UTC, in reasonably good seeing but fighting passing waves of clouds. The chromosphere is crackling again today, led by AR 3559 near top-center of the disc. Not evident in the full-disc image: a beautiful loop prominence in the NW quadrant.

#Solar #Astronomy #Cycle25

Today's H-alpha Sun in excellent seeing conditions at 17:30 UTC. The highlight is a beautiful, feathery prominence on the Sun's WSW limb. The image still doesn't quite do justice to exactly how detailed it appeared visually.

#Solar #Astronomy #Cycle25

So evidently this was a part of the southern polar crown prominence (PCP) that lifted off yesterday morning. And #TIL that these structures decay away by the time of solar maximum, so although we’re therefore not quite at the maximum of #Cycle25, it’s also not long from now.

More about the phenomenon of PCPs: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11207-014-0504-z

#Astronomy #Solar #Sun #SolarCycle