A Solar Storm, Comets ATLAS & SWAN, and a Shower | Space Weather News 04.23.2020

We are calming down from a decent solar storm this week– it’s the first large storm we have had in quite a while and it ended an “aurora-drought” at mid-latitudes that had been lingering for months. Now we are feeling the effects of a weak burst of fast wind that is following the storm and it could keep aurora active at high latitudes over the next few days. We also have a mini-solar storm that launched on the 19th and it could slightly enhance the disturbed conditions into the weekend before things calm down. Solar flux is also on the rise thanks to a bright region that is rotating into Earth-view. We are back into the marginal range for emergency and amateur radio communications on Earth’s dayside. GPS reception continues to be good, even at low latitudes on Earth’s dayside. However, there may be some slight issues with GPS reception over the next few days on Earth’s nightside anywhere near aurora or near dawn and dusk. Find out more about the recent solar activity, learn what has happened to Comet ATLAS while we discover the new comet SWAN, and see what else is in store this week.