Dr. Ryan French

‪So if anybody ever says it’s usual (or an indication of danger) to see big widespread aurora from small flares (or vice versa) – it’s an indication that they don’t know what they’re talking about. I’ve seen many use this argument with the major 2024-2025 geomagnetic storm!‬

The Sun produced another sizeable solar flare this morning, reaching a respectable X4.2 level. But, big flares don’t necessitate strong aurora at Earth. Eruptions of plasma (coronal mass ejections) are needed to create strong aurora, but large flares may produce weak eruptions, or even none at all.

Another gorgeous X-class solar flare from the Sun earlier today. Like the other strong flares from this region, the flare did not produce any significant ejecta – meaning that nothing is en route to Earth.

The Sun has produced another X-class #SolarFlare (the strongest category). This active region will continue facing Earth for a few more days!

We await further data to determine if the flare sent an eruption our way.

Where do solar flares come from? Just as earthquakes are the release of built up frictional energy along fault lines, solar flares are the release of built up magnetic energy above sunspots. This week, complex magnetic field mixing = strong flare chances! (See Earth for scale).

This movie shows the past 24 hours in active region AR 14366 – the area responsible for the recent strong solar flares! This wavelength shows cooler (1 million °C) plasma, revealing how dynamic the coronal magnetic field is right now. This region has many more flares to give!

Even a Carrington Event would not influence individual pacemakers! Electrical currents produced on the ground by geomagnetic storms are proportional to the length of the conducting material. So power grids / railway lines / phone cables vulnerable, but small devices are not.

Looking unlikely.

Today’s large (X8.1-class) #SolarFlare produced a dense, slow moving eruption – but not the rapid coronal mass ejection that aurora chasers were hoping for. Much of the material falls back to the Sun, dense enough to appear near-opaque (‘optically-thick’) at some wavelengths!

After an hour of near X-class flare levels, the Sun is calming down (for now). This active region is not finished however, with further strong X-class flares inevitable at this point!

For context, this is larger than any solar flare measured in 2018-2023, or 2025. Both 2017 and 2024 each saw two flares larger than this one.

A significant #SolarFlare is currently underway on the Sun! The flare was so bright, it has caused saturation and diffraction patterns in images captured by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory. Early data also seems to suggest the flare was eruptive.

CORRECTION: it is the 3rd strongest Earth-facing flare since 2017 (it didn’t quite sneak into the number two spot).

Much too early to say that! We don't know the flare produced a CME yet. (And if it did, it's not in the perfect spot for Earth-directivity.)

X marks the spot!

Happening right now! Data just coming in.

My jaw has hit the floor. The second strongest Earth-facing #SolarFlare since 2017 is currently underway on the Sun! X8.0-class levels exceeded.

(Correction: ‘bares’ = ‘bears’!)

Solar activity has really picked up on February 1st! With many moderate (M-class) flares from active region AR14366, and one event surpassing the X-class threshold (X1.04) – further strong flaring is likely over the next few days.

Great work to all involved! A&G article link: academic.oup.com/astrogeo/art...

In today’s issue of Astronomy & Geophysics, the Royal Astronomical Society share the story of accidentally discovering a lost photograph of Carrington – bringing to light the only known photograph of the most iconic figure in solar astrophysics.

If you think you’ve seen a photograph of Richard Carrington before – you’re mistaken. The top result on Google (even featuring his Wikipedia page for a while), is NOT Carrington. Although commonly attributed to him, it’s actually a portrait of Lord Kelvin!

BREAKING: This is Richard Carrington, the first person to document solar flares on the Sun & suggest their influence on aurora at Earth. The largest solar storm on record, the Carrington Event, bares his name. But, there has been no photograph available of Carrington – until now!

I've seen some fantastic northern lights photos this evening! If anybody is interested in learning how to take the best aurora photos possible with an iPhone – I've created a short tutorial: youtu.be/4VnNM3s_e1o

I've seen some fantastic northern lights photos this evening! If anybody is interested in learning how to take the best aurora photos possible with an iPhone – I've created a short tutorial: youtu.be/4VnNM3s_e1o

Sad!

Related! Both the aurora and solar radiation storm are originating from the same eruption arriving from the Sun

From my mother-in-law in Norfolk, UK! UK/Europe – get outside now!

Happy aurora hunting everyone! I’ve already seen some stunning northern lights photos from the UK and Germany.

Colorado: Our best bet to see the storm will be just after sunset tonight. Look north around ~5:30-5:45p. Fingers crossed this holds until sunset tonight!

Solar storm is ongoing - fingers crossed this holds until sunset! If so, should be a great show.

#COwx