Category Archives: Space Weather

A New Eye on the Sun: CCOR-1 and the Future of Solar Weather Monitoring

Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Jake Brodsky (AB3A), who writes:

One of the key instruments for predicting when solar weather events will
arrive here at Earth is the Chronograph. And one of the most widely used
Coronagraphs is the LASCO instrument onboard the SOHO spacecraft at
Lagrange Point 1 (L1). This is a place where the spacecraft orbits L1 in
a halo fashion, just like the James Webb Space Telescope at L2. The
advantage of L1 is that it gets a mostly uninterrupted view of the sun.

SOHO was designed for a two year mission. And here we are nearly 30
years later and the spacecraft is still working. However, the solar
panels have degraded over that time, the gyros are no longer working,
and though the spacecraft has lots of fuel, it is running on borrowed time.

The older LASCO C2 and C3 coronagraph images are amazing, considering
that they’re 30 year old technology. Still, after 30 years we can do
better.

Enter CCOR, or the Compact Coronagraph. The scientists at Naval Research
Lab decided to see what they could do to improve on LASCO. The result
was CCOR-1. CCOR-1 was launched on GOES-U which, upon arriving on
station in Geostationary Orbit, became GOES 19.

Since it arrived on station last July, I’ve been waiting patiently for
the images from the new coronagraph to become available. It’s taken some
time and it won’t be officially available until April. However, you can
see what it looks like under the “experimental” instruments on NOAA’s
web page.

See https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/products/ccor-1-coronagraph-experimental

Unlike the LASCO instrument onboard SOHO at L1, Geostationary orbit
doesn’t offer an uninterrupted view of the sun. Often you’ll see the
moon photobombing its way through the image. And there are times when
the Earth may block the view of the sun. However, CCOR-1 reports
reliably every 15 minutes, whereas LASCO images can be delayed for many
hours until the SOHO spacecraft antenna points back at Earth.

When the CCOR-1 data is ready for scientific use, it will become an
important backup for the aging SOHO spacecraft. Also note that NOAA is
planning to launch a new replacement for SOHO at L1 called the Space
Weather Follow On to L1 or SWFO.

Solar weather is critical for many uses, besides just shortwave radio.
These include predicting degraded GPS accuracy, Satellite Operations,
Power Grid Operations, and in extreme cases, even alerting pilots of
excessive radiation risks when flying in the vicinity of the North and
South poles.

Have a look at the CCOR-1 images. It is much better at illuminating the
corona of the Sun, though it does have limitations based upon where it
is located.

73,

Jake Brodsky,
Amateur Radio Station AB3A

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The Sun is Flaring (X and M Class )

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor Troy Riedel, who shares the following news courtesy of the excellent SpaceWeather.com site:

THE SUN IS FLARING AGAIN: Sunspot AR3947 is sizzling with activity. Since yesterday it has produced three X-class solar flares and multiple strong M-flares. NOAA’s GOES-16 satellite recorded the extreme ultraviolet and X-ray flashes:

Each flare has produced a shortwave radio blackout on Earth. Almost all longitudes of our planet have experienced intermittent loss of signal below 20 MHz during local daylight hours. Long-distance propagation has been very unreliable.

Remarkably, no significant CMEs have emerged. For some reason, these explosions have not lifted much material out of the sun’s atmosphere. Future blasts may behave differently, however, and the activity shows no sign of abating as the sunspot turns toward Earth.

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Flying Into the Sun

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On Christmas Eve the Parker Solar Probe is going to enter the Sun’s atmosphere for the first time to study Solar Wind. For radio hobbists of all ilks, this will hopefully help us understand more about the origins of Solar Wind, and thereby help us understand more fully the effects this has on radio signals (and other space weather issues).

The following is an exerpt from an article on ARS Technica by Eric Berger

Almost no one ever writes about the Parker Solar Probe anymore.

Sure, the spacecraft got some attention when it launched. It is, after all, the fastest moving object that humans have ever built. At its maximum speed, goosed by the gravitational pull of the Sun, the probe reaches a velocity of 430,000 miles per hour, or more than one-sixth of 1 percent the speed of light. That kind of speed would get you from New York City to Tokyo in less than a minute.

And the Parker Solar Probe also has the distinction of being the first NASA spacecraft named after a living person. At the time of its launch, in August 2018, physicist Eugene Parker was 91 years old.

But in the six years since the probe has been zipping through outer space and flying by the Sun? Not so much. Let’s face it, the astrophysical properties of the Sun and its complicated structure are not something that most people think about on a daily basis.

However, the smallish probe—it masses less than a metric ton, and its scientific payload is only about 110 pounds (50 kg)—is about to make its star turn. Quite literally. On Christmas Eve, the Parker Solar Probe will make its closest approach yet to the Sun. It will come within just 3.8 million miles (6.1 million km) of the solar surface, flying into the solar atmosphere for the first time.

Read the whole article here

Posted by Robert Gulley K4PKM

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Spaceweather.com: Sunspot “visually rivals Carrington’s famous sunspot”

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Troy Riedel, who shares the following news via Spaceweather.com:

Above: Carrington’s sunspot (to scale) compared to today’s giant sunspot AR3664.

HUGE SUNSPOT HURLS CME TOWARD EARTH: A sunspot so large it visually rivals Carrington’s famous sunspot of 1859 hurled a CME toward Earth today. Don’t worry! A new Carrington Event is not in the offing. The incoming CME isn’t potent enough. However, this huge sunspot merits watching while Earth is in its strike zone. Full story @ Spaceweather.com.

CME impact alerts: Sign up for Space Weather Alerts to receive an instant text message when the CME arrives.

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Rich’s propagation observations during the total solar eclipse

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Rich Stahl, who writes:

In Ocean View NJ, our eclipse started at 2:08, 3:23 totality, and ended 4:35. We have a daytimer here on 1020, WWAC, at 1900 watts, and I was curious if KDKA, at 50kw, also on 1020, would have any presence during the event. I used my Tecsun PL330, on the internal ferrite antenna, and did a band scan 530-1710 every fifteen minutes to see what it would capture. From 2:15 up to the 3:45 scan, the radio captured between eight and ten signals per scan. Up to this point, the sun still had the D layer fully ionized. But after the mid point, the 4:00 scan had 19 captures, the 4:15 scan had 38, and the 4:30 scan had 36. The D layer had obviously de-ionized considerably. The very next scan, at 4:45, captures back down to 9. The sun was back in business. And never did I hear a peep out of KDKA.

Rich Stahl
WR3V
Ocean View, NJ

Thank you for sharing your findings, Rich! Perhaps others can comment with their observations as well.

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A large CME could bring G3-class geomagnetic storms

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Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Troy Riedel, who shares the following news from Spaceweather.com:

A BIG CME IS COMING: This morning’s X1-class solar flare hurled a bright CME toward Earth. NASA and NOAA models agree that the storm cloud should reach our planet by the early hours of March 25th. A direct hit could spark strong G3-class geomagnetic storms with mid-latitude auroras in the USA and Europe.

NOAA Geomagnetic Activity Probabilities 24 Mar-26 Mar
Active                10/01/30
Minor storm           25/20/30
Moderate storm        25/30/20
Strong-Extreme storm  35/50/05

NOAA Kp index forecast 24 Mar - 26 Mar
             Mar 24    Mar 25    Mar 26
00-03UT        3.67      5.00      5.00      
03-06UT        4.67      6.67      4.00      
06-09UT        2.00      5.67      4.00      
09-12UT        1.00      5.00      3.67      
12-15UT        1.00      4.00      3.00      
15-18UT        2.67      3.00      2.33      
18-21UT        5.00      3.00      2.33      
21-00UT        5.67      4.00      3.33

Thanks for the tip, Troy!

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Solar Radiation Storms and Cannibal CMEs

Spaceweather.com

SOLAR RADIATION STORM–NOW: For the second time in less than a week, energetic solar protons are raining down on Earth’s upper atmosphere. Forecasters call this a “solar radiation storm.” Today’s storm (near category S2) is rich in “hard protons” wiith energies greater than 50 MeV. It is causing a shortwave radio blackout inside the Arctic Circle and speckling the cameras of some Earth-orbiting satellites.

The plot above shows storm data recorded by NOAA’s GOES-18 satellite in Earth orbit. Sensors on the satellite are counting energetic protons as they pass by en route to Earth. Triggered by an explosion near the sun’s southwestern limb (inset), this storm could last for another 24 hours.

IS A ‘CANNIBAL CME’ COMING? Since Feb. 7th, the sun has hurled multiple CMEs into space. A handful of them might hit Earth this week. A new NOAA forecast model shows at least three solar storm clouds approaching for strikes on Feb. 13th:

Click to play the animated forecast model

The closely-spaced arrival of these three CMEs could spark G1 (Minor) to G2-class (Moderate) geomagnetic storms with high-latitude auroras in northern Europe, Canada, and northern-tier US states from Maine to Washington.

There’s a chance the CMEs will pile up to form a Cannibal CME. This happens when one fast-moving CME sweeps up slower-moving CMEs in front of it. Cannibal CMEs typically contain strong shocks and enhanced magnetic fields that do a good job sparking geomagnetic storms. If such a pile-up occurs, the combined strike could cause a G3 (Strong) geomagnetic storm with auroras at mid-latitudes.

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