SPACEWEATHER.COM NEWS: 09-21-2023

GEOMAGNETIC STORM WATCH (G1): Yesterday’s M8-class solar flare from sunspot AR3435 (movie) hurled a CME into space. NOAA analysts believe it could graze Earth’s magnetic field and cause a minor G1-class geomagnetic storm on Sept. 23rd. A second CME might be following close behind as a result of today’s M9-class flare, described below. Aurora alerts: SMS Text

ANOTHER ALMOST-X FLARE (UPDATED): Sunspot AR3435 erupted again today (Sept. 21 @ 1254 UT), producing an M9-class solar flare. NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory recorded the extreme ultravolet flash.

Radiation from the flare produced a shortwave radio blackout mainly over the Atlantic Ocean: map. Mariners and ham radio operators may have noticed loss of signal at frequencies below ~20 MHz.

SPACEWEATHER SPACE GALLERY: Solar Analemma

The solar Analemma for 2023, Taken by Ian Griffin on September 20, 2023 @ Dunedin New Zealand

“A year long exposure from my office window reveals the motion of the sun over the course of a year!”

Analemma
In astronomy, an analemma is a diagram showing the position of the Sun in the sky as seen from a fixed location on Earth at the same mean solar time, as that position varies over the course of a year.  Wikipedia

The analemma shows the latitude on Earth where the Sun’s rays are vertical on a given day of the year, and the “equation of time” which tells whether local clocks are ahead or behind solar time. The solar day is the length of time between one local noon, when the Sun crosses the meridian, to the next.
AstroPages – Analemma – Western Washington University