As I suspected, the flare came from AR3664, which has nearly rotated out of view of Earth. Probably aren't going to see any aurora from this flare. X8.8 is still impressive though. I wish the sun had been clear for me to see it (and take pics of it).
Yooooooooo hot damn. NOAA SWPC just pushed a new #aurora forecast and they are predicting another G5 storm tonight with Kp index up to 9!
DEAR GOD IF YOU DIDN'T GO OUT LAST NIGHT GO OUT TONIGHT!!!! I DON'T KNOW HOW MUCH MORE I CAN STRESS HOW FUCKING COOL THE AURORA IS OTHER THAN TO TYPE IN ALL CAPS AND USE A BUNCH OF EXCLAMATION POINTS!!!!!!!
@malcircuit barely anything just now in Ireland, but seems like more than zero. Clear skies, and at 01:30 local time, that's not any remnant of sunset.
Managed to catch a just-shy-of-X1-class flare a few hours ago when I put my scope out on the deck.
The complex chaos of magnetic fields — that is much, much larger than the size of Earth — designated as Region 3664 and Region 3668 (center right sunspot smudge) has been spawning a great number of flares recently, flinging an truly stupendous amount of energy and relativistic particles out into the solar system.
So some of that stupendous amount of energy and particles that Region 3664 kicked off earlier in the week is projected to arrive here on Friday night, causing a G2 geomagnetic storm.
If you live up dare in da north and it's clear out where you are (and you have a sufficiently dark sky), I highly suggest stepping outside and looking for some possible aurora in the sky. The viewline dips as far south as Chicago.
I want to establish extra urgency to anyone living in the Seattle and (less so) Vancouver area. The weather forecast is going to be about perfect for tonight. Almost no clouds.
YOU ARE IN A PRIME AURORA VIEWING REGION. DRIVE OUT TO A DARK SKY LOCATION LATE TONIGHT (12-2AM) AND WATCH THE SHOW!!
(I have an old friend out there and I'm honestly tempted to fly out there just for tonight)
Been working outside this afternoon so I can babysit my telescope while it takes a set of pics. The sun kicked off a big flare last night, so I was hoping it'd be active today and make for a good timelapse, but so far it's been relatively boring. Basically no flare activity.
At least I'm actually getting some work done out here for once lol
I took a break from work to edit the final result from the H-alpha images I got on Wednesday. First is the more typical color scheme and the second is a quirky semi-inverted blue version like I did last night.
Also got some images of the Sunflower Galaxy (M63) last night, partially at the astro club meeting but mostly at my apartment. About 2 hours of monochrome luminance.
This is probably my next project. It's one of my favorites.
I was contacted by a recruiter on LinkedIn about a job at a high-frequency trading firm and was feeling curious so I entertained him and took the call. Not sure if I actually care about the job?
Like, HFT firms are kind of like the economic equivalent of parasitic organisms. But it's not like I think the automotive industry is that great either.
I have no idea where I could work that would actually be fulfilling.
Maybe I should only focus on getting the best paying job I can tolerate. Maybe worrying about whether or not my job is making anything better is a fool's errand. Maybe I should just submit to the nihilism and just be a worker drone that's only concerned about getting a paycheck.
This is a pay-walled (account-walled?) article, but I appreciate the vibe from the first few sentences. Turns out gender affirming care is good for everyone, not just trans people. It's just good healthcare, that's it.