A Solar Storm Nearly Clips Parker Solar Probe | Solar Storm Forecast 06.12.2020

This week our Sun gives us more eye-candy as we have two new-cycle, bright regions in Earth view. One is region 2765 and it is the largest new-cycle sunspot we have seen to date. These regions are boosting the solar flux into the low 70s, which means radio propagation on Earth’s dayside is staying in the marginal range. Although there arent any Earth-directed solar storms, we did have a far-side launch of a solar storm this week. the intriguing thing is that it nearly clipped the Parker Solar Probe spacecraft, which is just finishing its 5th perihelion pass (closest approach to our Sun was on June 7th). This solar storm is also making news because it is the first strong “Halo CME” to be seen as we rise out of solar minimum. That it was so clearly seen in Earth-based coronagraphs means that these solar storms are once again growing stronger. Learn the details of this near miss of Parker Solar Probe, catch up on aurora photos from recent solar storming, and see what else our Sun has in store this week!