This week our Sun keeps us on pins and needles as four new active regions rotate through Earth-view. Not only are two of these regions big flare players (we have a 5% chance for X-flares), but several solar storms have been launched over the past couple days that are either grazing Earth now (or soon will be). In addition we have an unstable filament rotating through the Earth-strike zone now and it is poised to erupt. If it does over the next few days, it will likely be Earth-directed. Aurora photographers should stay comfortably alert for the remainder of this week as we might have some sporadic aurora. This is also good news for amateur radio operators, as solar flux peaked over 100 for a few days this week. Although it is back down into the low 90s as of right now, every time we cross into triple digits, it is a good sign that cycle 25 is continuing to rise! However, with this rising activity comes the potential for radio blackouts, and this week is no exception. Regions 2866 and 2868 are both big-flare players and so both radio operators and GPS users could see issues with signal reception over the next few days, especially on Earth’s dayside and near dawn and dusk. Learn the details of the coming solar storms, watch how regions 2866 and 2868 are developing, and see what else our Sun has in store this week!

This week our Sun turns up the brightness with no less than four new active regions emerging in Earth-view. All of these regions are growing rapidly, in fact, one of them, region 2864 has launched an earth-directed solar storm. This storm is wispy and likely wont cause too big of a disturbance, but early predictions indicate impact at Earth late on September 9. As such, aurora views should be visible at high-latitudes, but at mid-latitudes, as things stand now, there is only a slim chance. Amateur radio operators and emergency responders should be smiling as these bright regions are also boosting the solar flux into the high 80s. If they continue to grow at this pace we could see solar flux into the 90s within this week, which means radio propagation on Earth’s dayside continues inch ever closer to the “good” range. Although they are growing rapidly, these sunspot regions are not currently a risk for big flares, but they are firing C-class flares. Thus GPS users should remain vigilant near dawn and dusk as GPS reception could be less reliable for a few hours straddling both sunrise and sunset. Learn the details of the coming solar storm, watch the fast rise of the numerous sunspot clusters, and see what else our Sun has in store this week!

All eyes are on the Sun this week as there are so many changes afoot. First, that massive filament we have been watching rotating through the Earth-strike zone has erupted! Early indications are that it has launched at least a partially-Earth-directed solar storm (we are already seeing an eruption signature in coronagraphs) so we might have a storm heading our way. (I will be sure to update my community on Patreon with the details). In addition to this filament, we have multiple new bright regions rotating into Earth view that are not only boosting solar flux, but are also solar storm producers, and possibly even big flare players! Learn the details of the massive filament in the strike zone, watch the new regions rotate into view, and find out how these will affect both GPS reception and amateur radio this week.

Our Sun stays a bit on the quiet side this week, but it is definitely giving us some fun stuff to watch. We went from a spotless Sun to one with four sunspots in a matter of days! Although these new regions are quiet and likely wont give us any chance for big solar flares, we are nevertheless keeping our eyes on them as it is unusual to see so many sunspots emerge all at once. As for solar storms, our Sun is still firing a few, but none of them are Earth-directed. We also aren’t expecting any fast solar wind this week, so aurora photographers will likely need to focus on the ongoing Perseid meteor shower this week instead of aurora. Although the quiet conditions this week means radio propagation remains in the marginal range on Earth’s dayside, at least GPS/GNSS users can expect some decent signal reception pretty much all over the globe. Learn the details of the emerging sunspots, see the long snake-like filament that is rotating into view, catch up on aurora photos from recent solar storming, and see what else our Sun has in store this week.

Our Sun keeps the solar storms coming as this new solar cycle continues to ramp up. We are averaging nearly one storm launch every day! However, the Sun has had terrible aim recently, sending most of these solar storms to the East or West of Earth. This week is an exception in that one of these storm launches seems to be Earth-directed. Along with several other glancing blows, we may see impacts at Earth as early as August 1st, with effects increasing by August 2. Aurora photographers should keep at the ready for aurora, possibly down to mid-latitudes while amateur radio operators and GPS users should be on the alert for minor issues through August 3rd. Learn the details of the coming solar storms, how they might impact you, and see what else our Sun has in store this week.

This week our Star really fakes us out with two big solar storm launches on the Sun’s farside. Although these storms are not Earth-directed, they are a clear indicator that Solar Cycle 25 is now well underway. The big flare players we saw just two weeks ago are obviously still alive and kicking and as they rotate back into Earth-view over this next week, no doubt we will see a lot more activity. As it is, we are already seeing multiple solar storm launches in a single day just from STEREO’s view. In fact, there are so many, it’s a bit hard to keep track of them all. This means aurora photographers might soon be getting a treat over the next two weeks while amateur radio operators will enjoy better propagation (albeit with a bit more noise on the bands) on Earth’s dayside. Of course, this also means the risk of radio blackouts will also increase so GPS users will need to keep that in mind as there might be degraded GPS reception near dawn and dusk over the next two weeks. Learn the details of the recent big solar storm launches, see the rise of region 2844, and find out what else our Sun has in store this week!

Lions and Tigers and X-flares oh my! this week our son ratchets up the activity big time. We have had 11 solar flares in the past few days, including for big flares and the first X-class flare of Solar Cycle 25! it all started very quickly on July 3rd when region 2939 came up out of nowhere. this region began to rapid fire flares like a holiday firework display causing multiple radio blackouts throughout July 3rd and 4th before finally coming down on the 5th. It also launched multiple solar storms off to the west, but none of them are Earth directed. Although this region has now rotated to the sun’s farside it is still firing off solar flares and solar storms! We will definitely keep an eye on it as it returns into Earth view in the next two weeks. Learn the details of the solar fireworks over the July 4th holiday, find out what kind of effects we had here at Earth, and see what else our Sun has in store this week.

This week our Sun keeps us watching as a filament continues a slow rise off the Earth-facing Sun. It is now traversing through the Earth-strike zone and is poised to launch. If it erupts over the next few days, it could very well be an Earth-directed solar storm so we are keeping our eyes on it. In addition, we have a polar coronal hole in the north that will be sending us some fast solar wind around June 24, and along with a near Earth-directed solar storm that will give us a grazing passage on June 23, we could see some fun aurora shows at high latitudes, with a small chance of fleeting views down to mid-latitudes. We are also hanging on to solar flux levels in the high 70s to low 80s this week, with higher solar flux on the way due to new regions rotating into Earth-view over the next few days. Amateur radio operators should expect radio propagation on Earth’s dayside to be in the marginal range, but improving. Finally, GPS users should expect great reception this week all around the globe. Learn details of the coming fast solar wind, catch up on some gorgeous aurora and noctilucent cloud views over this past week and see what else our Sun has in store!

This week our Sun keeps us on our toes with a near Earth-directed solar storm and a “Ring of Fire” solar eclipse. Although the solar storm will go mainly east of Earth, the NASA prediction model shows a slight chance that the storm will graze us on June 11. Likely, we wont even notice the storm’s passage, but it is worth mentioning because it could extend the minor storming we’ve been having at high latitudes over the past several days from a pocket of fast solar wind. There are also four sunspots on the Earth-facing Sun this week and they have boosted the solar flux into the 80s! this means we are well into the marginal range for radio propagation on Earth’s dayside and continuing to climb. In fact, we will have more regions rotating into Earth view over the next few days and that should ensure solar flux will continue this upward trend! Learn details on the multiple front-sided and far-sided solar storms launched over the past few days, find out when and where the annular eclipse will be visible, and what else our Sun has in store this week.

As if Solar Cycle 25 had not already started last week off with a band, we get more excitement this week! We had a large solar storm launch from region 2824 earlier this week and although it is not expected to hit Earth (it will likely graze us to the west), it nevertheless came with the first Earth-directed solar radiation storm of this new cycle! This is a very clear indicator that solar eruptions are indeed getting larger and more energetic! Although the radiation storm only lasted about a day, it is a harbinger of what is to come! As for the solar storm, it looks to be grazing Earth now, and as expected, it is bringing mildly disturbed conditions. However, we will see as the fast solar wind hits over the next day or so, how much this mild disturbance becomes enhanced by this serendipitous timing. Learn the details of the solar radiation storm, see when and where aurora might be visible, and discover why both amateur radio operators and GPS users have something to smile about this week!