Posts Tagged ‘flare’
Solar Plasma Filament Eruption – The Sun – November 6,7 2013
The Sun currently is active, with powerful, complex magnetic structures that have formed a healthy number of sunspots. We are seeing a fair number of x-ray flares, which push the 10.7-cm flux higher than we’ve seen in a while.
Sunspots and flares means better propagation in general, especially on the higher frequencies of the shortwave spectrum. While a flare can cause a short period of “blackout” conditions (especially on the lower frequencies) on the sunlit side of the Earth, such activity is part of the positive activity that ionizes the F-region, providing for DX.
Here’s a movie of one such flare and the release of solar plasma, a release known as a coronal mass ejection (CME): At about midnight, UTC, on 6 November 2013, a moderately-strong M-class flare erupted, with a “beautiful” CME: http://g.nw7us.us/18a0QvI
(Source: SOHO/SDO/NASA)
We will see continued flare activity over the weekend, so expect great conditions on the HF bands, with momentary blackouts. Keep up to the minute on space weather at http://SunSpotWatch.com
73 – de NW7US
Propagation Columnist, CQ Communications Magazine, Popular Communications Magazine
http://NW7US.us