Saturday, 4 June 2016 15:15 UTC
Our sun is spotless today. The NOAA SWPC reports that there are no numbered sunspot regions on the earth-facing side of the solar disk and that means our sun is devoid of sunspots for the first time since 18 July 2014. As a result, solar activity is at very low levels and the last registered solar flare took place three days ago!
A moderate G2 geomagnetic storm watch is in effect for later tonight and tomorrow as the NOAA SWPC expects a coronal hole solar wind stream to arrive and cause enhanced geomagnetic conditions up to a Kp of 6.
A coronal hole is facing Earth. Enhanced solar wind could arrive in ~3 days - Follow live on https://t.co/T1Jkf6i4Cb pic.twitter.com/9uP5h2KtbR
— SpaceWeatherLive (@_SpaceWeather_) 2 juni 2016
This solar wind stream comes from the exact same coronal hole that caused a strong G3 geomagnetic storm on 6 May. The solar wind stream has yet to arrive but we do not expect the same kind activity as last month as this coronal hole shrunk quite a bit. Even G2 conditions might be a bit too optimistic but we of course encourage you to keep an eye on the solar wind data to see how this event is going to unfold.
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Last X-flare | 2024/11/06 | X2.39 |
Last M-flare | 2024/11/20 | M1.1 |
Last geomagnetic storm | 2024/11/10 | Kp5+ (G1) |
Spotless days | |
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Last spotless day | 2022/06/08 |
Monthly mean Sunspot Number | |
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October 2024 | 166.4 +25 |
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Last 30 days | 155.2 +4.4 |