It’s #
SunDay#! Here’s your space weather report for the week of Aug 7 - 13:
• 0 M-class flares
• 1 C-class flare
• 16 coronal mass ejections
• 1 geomagnetic storm
This video from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) shows the week’s activity.
It was a quite calm week on the Sun, with a moderate geomagnetic storm occurring on Aug. 8 after several coronal mass ejections arrived at Earth together.
There was also a total solar eclipse on Aug. 12. How come SDO didn't see it? SDO follows a “geosynchronous” orbit, orbiting Earth at the same rate as Earth spins. The spacecraft effectively “hovers” over its ground station in White Sands, New Mexico. White Sands was outside of the eclipse’s path, so SDO didn’t see it.
Visualize SDO’s orbit: