First of all, happy new year to all my cosmic fans! 🥂 Thank you for making me a space celebrity in 2025 with your amazing reactions and support! Just like you, when at midnight you were shooting off firecrackers and popping champagne, our Sun also said "The New Year needs a proper celebration!" 🌞 Today it fired off such an M7.1 solar flare (R2-moderate) that even the New Year's Eve fireworks in Bratislava would be put to shame! The flare peaked at 13:51 UTC. 🔥
This space party took place around the sunspot designated 4324 📍, which lies on the northern hemisphere of the Sun, just a few degrees east of the central meridian. It was like when all the grills at Zemplínska šírava explode at once! After the flare, Type II and Type IV radio emissions were observed (no, it's not like a number two in the bathroom 🤣), and on coronagraph imagery from SOHO/LASCO we can see the resulting coronal mass ejection hurtling into space. 💨
A faint outline of a halo effect can be seen, but the main trajectory is heading far to the northeast of us. It's like when someone throws a firecracker and you're at a safe distance, but you still feel the pressure. 🧨 We expect this coronal mass ejection to hit us only with a glancing blow later on Friday evening, January 2nd. Given the weak halo effect, we don't anticipate more than minor G1 geomagnetic storm conditions. 🌩️
If you're planning another party, a G1 geomagnetic storm means the aurora will be visible mainly in northern countries, so here in Slovakia it's better to open another bottle of juniper brandy than a camera. 😜🍾 But hey, at least we have space New Year's greetings straight from our stellar neighbor! 🌟
If you don't want to miss any space show in 2026, don't forget to follow ziara.sk! I'll always let you know in time when it's worth looking at the sky and when you're better off staying at the pub! 🍻
Your Astronomer Cassandra ✨
