The SUN TODAY!! (2-APRIL-2016)

ALMOST-BLANK SUN: As the sunspot number continues to plummet, the face of the sun is increasingly blank. Today, only one sunspot punctuates the solar disk, circled in this April 1st image from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory:

 

WEEKEND STORM WARNING: NOAA forecasters estimate a 60% chance of G2-class geomagnetic storms on April 2nd when a CIR is expected to hit Earth's magnetic field. CIRs (co-rotating interaction regions) are transition zones between fast- and slow-moving solar wind streams. Density gradients and shock waves inside CIRs often do a good job sparking auroras. Aurora alerts: text or voice

ALMOST-BLANK SUN: As the sunspot number continues to plummet, the face of the sun is increasingly blank. Today, only one sunspot punctuates the solar disk, circled in this April 1st image from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory:

The name of the sunspot is "AR2526." It has a stable magnetic field that poses little threat for strong flares. Indeed, this lonely sunspot is so quiet that the sun's X-ray output is flat-lining.

In a matter of days, the sun could be completely blank. AR2526 is moving toward rhe sun's western limb where it will vanish early next week. If no new sunspot emerges to take its place, the solar disk will be 100% spotless--a sure sign that Solar Minimum is coming.

A widely-held misconception is that space weather stalls and becomes uninteresting during periods of low sunspot number. In fact, by turning the solar cycle sideways, we see that Solar Minimum brings many interesting changes. For instance, the upper atmosphere of Earth collapses, allowing space junk to accumulate around our planet. The heliosphere shrinks, bringing interstellar space closer to Earth. And galactic cosmic rays penetrate the inner solar system with relative ease. Indeed, a cosmic ray surge is already underway.


http://www.spaceweather.com/