[South Florida DX Association] Space Weather News for Oct. 27, 2003

[Bill Marx]

Space Weather News for Oct. 27, 2003

Giant sunspots 484 and 486 remain visible on the sun, posing a continued
threat for X-class solar explosions.  Indeed, on Sunday, Oct. 26th, there
were two such blasts--one from each sunspot. The explosions hurled coronal
mass ejections (CMEs) into space and somewhat toward Earth.

Because of these events, sky watchers should be alert for auroras during
the nights ahead. High-latitude sites such as Alaska, Canada and US
northern border states from Maine to Washington are favored, as usual, but
auroras could descend to lower latitudes as well. Forecasters estimate a
25% chance of severe geomagnetic storming when the incoming CMEs sweep
past Earth and deliver (probably glancing) blows to our planet's magnetic
field.