JUNO OBSERVED BY AMATEUR ASTRONOMERS: NASA's Juno spacecraft left Earth Friday, Aug. 5th, on a five-year voyage to the planet Jupiter. Amateur astronomers have photographed the car-sized spacecraft leaving the Earth-Moon system. Images: #1, #2, #3.
MAJOR SOLAR FLARE: This morning at 0805 UT, sunspot 1263 produced anX7-class solar flare--only the third X-flare of new Solar Cycle 24 and the most powerful so far. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory captured the explosion's extreme ultraviolet flash:
The brunt of the explosion was not Earth directed. Nevertheless, a minor proton storm is in progress around our planet, which could affect satellites in high-altitude orbits. Also, radiation from flare created waves of ionization in Earth's upper atmosphere, briefly disrupting communications at some VLF and HF radio frequencies.
SOHO coronagraphs show a CME emerging from the blast site. The cloud will probably miss Earth. At this time, however, we cannot rule out a glancing blow from the flank of the CME on or about August 11th. Stay tuned for updates. Solar flare alerts: text, voice.
More data: from Rob Stammes of Laukvik, Lofoten, Norway; from Andy Smith of Devon, United Kingdom; from Jan Karlovsky of Hlohovec, Slovakia
WEEKEND AURORAS: A widespread display of auroras erupted late Friday, Aug. 5th, when a double-CME hit Earth's magnetic field and sparked a G4-categorygeomagnetic storm. Click on the image to view a time lapse video of the event recorded by Michael Ericsson on the shores of Tibbitt Lake in the Northwest Territories of Canada:
The show was not restricted to Canada. Northern Lights spilled across the border into the United States as far south as Oregon, Utah, Colorado, and Nebraska. (Note: The faint red lights photographed in Nebraska are typical of low-latitude auroras during major geomagnetic storms.) Observers in Europe as far south as England, Germany and Poland also witnessed a fine display. Browse the gallery for more examples.
Provided by Space Weather News
