Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Sara Housseal ☀️

@snhwx.bsky.social

1.7K followers 380 following 200 posts

Space Weather Forecaster ☀️ Meteorologist ⛈️ Applied Physics Graduate Student 📚 Photographer 📸 Nebraska 📍

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Pinned

Sara Housseal ☀️ @snhwx.bsky.social · Oct 19

Resharing these here to hopefully prevent as much misinformation and/or confusion as possible.

Solar flares and coronal mass ejections are not phenomena that can be referenced interchangeably. They are completely different phenomenon with completely different impacts. ☀️

3 13 56

Sara Housseal ☀️ @snhwx.bsky.social · Mar 24

oMg ThErE's A hUgE HoLe In ThE sUn!! ☀️

2 3

Sara Housseal ☀️ @snhwx.bsky.social · Feb 22

Today is the day! ☀️

Tanya @tmelnik.bsky.social · Jan 29

Join Space Weather Unplugged for a chat with a space weather professional, Sara Housseal. Let's find out more about space weather models and their use!
Hope to see you on February 22 at 8 PM EST. That's February 23, 0100 UTC in space weather time.

3 28

Sara Housseal ☀️ @snhwx.bsky.social · Feb 14

Happy Valentine's Day to the one I can't take my eyes off of, even when you're being a pain in the ass. 😉💘

Sara Housseal ☀️ @snhwx.bsky.social · Feb 7

For some reason the link broke in the original post 😅

testbed.spaceweather.gov/products/cco...

CCOR-1 Coronagraph | Space Weather Prediction Testbed

testbed.spaceweather.gov

1 3

Sara Housseal ☀️ @snhwx.bsky.social · Feb 7

🚨 Preliminary GOES CCOR data is now available

Will be available in 15 minute intervals while operational testing continues. ☀️

testbed.spaceweather.gov/products/ccor-…

5 4 25

Sara Housseal ☀️ @snhwx.bsky.social · Jan 29

What do you see? ☀️

2 6

Reposted by Sara Housseal ☀️

Brian G Weber Photography @briangweber.com · Jan 26

Yesterday's sun! The chunky sunspots are heading around the bend and it's looking awfully quiet in the other hemisphere.

Details: https://www.astrobin.com/gea408/

#sun #solar #astrophography #photography #solarsystem #sunspots #space

2 12

Sara Housseal ☀️ @snhwx.bsky.social · Jan 23

Fun Fact: Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO), the sole provider of coronagraph imagery from L1 along the Sun-Earth line, was originally planned for a 2 year mission in Dec 1995, or 730 days. As of 23 Jan 2025, SOHO is on mission day 10,646! ☀️🛰️

Rendition of SOHO satellite with the Sun in the background. Photo is from ESA.

3 15 59

Sara Housseal ☀️ @snhwx.bsky.social · Jan 23

Likely the cause for this instance

www.swpc.noaa.gov/news/tempora...

Temporary Webpage and Data Outages Possible 22-23 January | NOAA / NWS Space Weather Prediction Center

www.swpc.noaa.gov

Sara Housseal ☀️ @snhwx.bsky.social · Jan 21

Nice reminder of how the semantics of active region complexity don't always mean much of anything when it comes to possible flare activity.

3961 & 3964 have been the most complex & likely of flare activity, yet a benign area blasted a long duration M3 flare w/ a southward CME. ☀️

Sara Housseal ☀️ @snhwx.bsky.social · Jan 19

Any suggestions on free, easy to use video editing software/applications, both mobile device and desktop? 📽️

3 5

Sara Housseal ☀️ @snhwx.bsky.social · Jan 19

Considering we have yet to see much of any flare activity from this region to provide additional analysis, without computational analysis I don't think we can confidently say how caged it truly is, or isn't.

Sara Housseal ☀️ @snhwx.bsky.social · Jan 19

AR3961 (south center) currently has the best chance for activity with the highest flare probability of all regions on the disk at 45% for M flares & 10% for X flares. This will be the region to keep an eye on over the next few days as any eruption would likely have an Earth directed component. ☀️

1 1 12

Sara Housseal ☀️ @snhwx.bsky.social · Jan 18

Big, scary coronal hole with concerningly fast solar wind that could wreak havoc on Earth where? 🧐 ☀️

Reposted by Sara Housseal ☀️

Stella-Luna Observatory @stellalunaobs.bsky.social · Jan 17

Clear skies today with temperatures in the 30s (℉) gave us an opportunity to record an interesting development on Earth's Sun. "Fast-growing sunspot 3964 didn't even exist yesterday," reported Spaceweather .com. "Now it is as big as two Earths and poses a threat for strong flares."

#sunspots #sun

The Sun, in white light, as photographed through a safe solar filter. It appears here as a gray circle with several dark blotches -- sunspots -- aligned roughly left to right across the disk. The sunspot in AR (Active Region) 3964 is right of center in the picture. Background is black in this photo taken January 17, 2025 by James Guilford.

3 11

Reposted by Sara Housseal ☀️

Wings & Space Photography @wingsandspace.bsky.social · Jan 17

Our Sun and current #sunspot regions photographed about 30 minutes ago from my back garden

📸 Nikon Coolpix P1000

#sun #sunspots #solarphotography #photography #nikonphotography

2 24

Sara Housseal ☀️ @snhwx.bsky.social · Jan 17

Although AR3964 will continue to rotate into a non-favorable position in the event it ever launches a CME, this is still a region to watch as of right now. 💥

After abruptly appearing on the disk, indicating its potential for activity, it just released an M7 flare, no CME. ☀️

1 1 14

Sara Housseal ☀️ @snhwx.bsky.social · Jan 16

Due to the Parker Spiral & travel time, the CH rotates ~40° passed CM before connection, giving the impression that's the form of the CH that's currently impacting Earth. This is not the case, meaning change in a CH beyond CM has little to no influence on what Earth sees.

Sara Housseal ☀️ @snhwx.bsky.social · Jan 16

Second, the fast solar wind from a CH that reaches Earth is that from when it is near CM, roughly three days prior to connection, not that of its more westward position.

1 1

Sara Housseal ☀️ @snhwx.bsky.social · Jan 16

Although they do change in size, be mindful of perception & angle.

CHs are viewed via the corona, which is the outer most layer of the Sun, thus when looking at a CH from any view point other than dead center, there is a lot of material/plasma that can obstruct the view.

Sara Housseal ☀️ @snhwx.bsky.social · Jan 16

Let's clear up two common misconceptions when it comes to coronal holes (CH). 🧵

First, do not be fool into thinking the size has changed drastically, growing from east to central meridian (CM) and then shrinking from central meridian westward. ☀️

1 3 14

Sara Housseal ☀️ @snhwx.bsky.social · Jan 16

With new active regions appearing, we will have to keep a close eye on the eastern portion of the Sun.

Flare activity is quiet, for now, but that can switch up quick. 👀☀️

Sara Housseal ☀️ @snhwx.bsky.social · Jan 15

2025 is the year of trolling and making fools of big news media companies that spread misinformation and clickbait about space weather.

I'm 2 for 3 with effectively getting a post deleted. 👊

1 8

Sara Housseal ☀️ @snhwx.bsky.social · Jan 15

Much appreciated! 😊

Sara Housseal ☀️ @snhwx.bsky.social · Jan 15

The fast solar wind from the western most, finger-like extension of the coronal hole is reaching Earth now and should continue to ramp up as the entirety of the coronal hole rotates westward.

This could enhance geomagnetic activity over the coming days. ☀️

1 6 44