Schöne Nachbetrachtung des letzten PL und Aussichten auf meh

[Ulrich Rieth]

=================================================================
This Is SKY & TELESCOPE's AstroAlert for Sun-Earth Interactions
=================================================================

A s t r o A l e r t

Sun-Earth Alert

Solar Terrestrial Dispatch

http://www.spacew.com/astroalert.html

10 September 2002

STRONG AURORAL STORM OF 07-08 SEPTEMBER, AND A NEW LARGE SUNSPOT COMPLEX

On 07 and 08 September, a strong auroral storm was observed across a
good portion of northeastern and central eastern North America. Activity was
observed well down into the central and southern regions of the United
States, including North Carolina, Kentucky and even Georgia. Although the
"northern lights" put on a show many will remember for the rest of their
lives, the activity paled in comparison to many other auroral storms observed
over the last few years. A benchmark for many people was the great storm of
March 1989, where activity was observed across Europe and all of North America and into
Mexico, including New Zealand and southern portions of Australia.

Information concerning the source of this storm (a fairly strong hyder
flare, illustrated with a short movie), as well as highlights of some of the
better images associated with the auroral storm, are available at:
http://www.spacew.com/astroalert.html. Many other images taken by people who
witnessed this auroral event (some which were posted only minutes after
taking them), are available at: http://www.spacew.com/gallery.

Unfortunately, eastern North America observed the tail end of the
disturbance. By the time nightfall occurred for central and particularly
western North Americans, the show had died down to a dull glow in the sky.
Activity was also observed over Europe, although observers noted that the
activity wasn't as strong as conditions suggested it should have been. The
best place in Europe to observe activity was probably Finland, where strong
coronal formations (auroral activity directly overhead produces very
interesting and sometimes brilliantly colorful patterns in the sky) were
observed. However, activity was also observed into Germany, and the U.K. as
well.

People who missed this show shouldn't despair. Although the sunspot
maximum has passed, the maximum in the occurrence of geomagnetic storm
activity (which is most closely tied to auroral storm activity) has not yet
passed. As a result, the occurrence of auroral storm activity should continue
to be prevalent over the next couple of years, with numerous expected future
episodes of strong auroral storming. Any of these future events may even
rival the activity of 1989.

Also of interest today is the return of a large sunspot complex to the
eastern solar limb. Formerly known as active Region 10069, this spot complex
has been renamed as Region 10105 and has been identified (by John C.
McConnell) as a large spot group visible to the unaided (but protected) eye.
This spot complex is a proven X-class flare producer and has already produced
several brief but moderately bright x-ray flares since rotating into view a
few days ago. The spot complex appears to have retained some magnetic
complexity and may be capable of supporting an isolated major solar flare
sometime during the next week or two.

Region 10105 will be monitored closely over the next two weeks.

** End of the AstroAlert Bulletin **
==================================================================
AstroAlert is a free service of SKY & TELESCOPE, the Essential
Magazine of Astronomy (http://SkyandTelescope.com/). This e-mail
was sent to AstroAlert subscribers. If you feel you received it
in error, or to unsubscribe from AstroAlert, please send a plain-
text e-mail to majordomo@SkyandTelescope.com with the following
line -- and nothing else -- in the body of the message:
unsubscribe sun-earth e-mail@address.com
replacing "e-mail@address.com" with your actual e-mail address.
==================================================================