Solar wind buffets Earth's magnetic field

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Carbon60
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Solar wind buffets Earth's magnetic field

Post by Carbon60 »

Hi all,

A large 'gash' in the solar atmosphere is spewing solar wind Earthwards, twitching magnetometers around the globe as it buffets our protective magnetic bubble.

Here are my own data from my homebuilt magnetometer in comparison with professional data, captured over the past couple of days, as Earth passes further into the wind stream. Given the wide expanse of this coronal hole, there is likely to be further activity over the coming days. Good news if you're in a good location to view the Aurora.
20170218_Coronal Hole.jpg
20170218_Coronal Hole.jpg (132.2 KiB) Viewed 4243 times
Thanks for looking.

Stu.


H-alpha, WL and Ca II K imaging kit for various image scales.
Fluxgate Magnetometers (1s and 150s Cadence).
Radio meteor detector.
More images at http://www.flickr.com/photos/solarcarbon60/
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Anthony M
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Re: Solar wind buffets Earth's magnetic field

Post by Anthony M »

Nice work, interesting observations. What are the approximately 3-hr periodic drops in the "Arbitrary Units" from? Really impressed with your Flickr images. HA mod looks great too! Can you post your magnetometer setup too? Cheers, Anthony


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Carbon60
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Re: Solar wind buffets Earth's magnetic field

Post by Carbon60 »

Hi Anthony,

There are all sorts of resonances that occur within the magnetic environment when the solar wind strikes, on different timescales from seconds to hours. I believe some of these are what we're seeing in the charts. Details of the setup are shown in the tutorial section of SolarChat.

viewtopic.php?f=7&t=20437

Thanks for your comments and interest.

Stu.


H-alpha, WL and Ca II K imaging kit for various image scales.
Fluxgate Magnetometers (1s and 150s Cadence).
Radio meteor detector.
More images at http://www.flickr.com/photos/solarcarbon60/
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Anthony M
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Re: Solar wind buffets Earth's magnetic field

Post by Anthony M »

Thanks again, Stewart. I'll have to read up some more on solar magnetometry. It's interesting that you are using a heterodyne bat detector to convert the signal- I used to survey for bats as part of my previous career in wildlife biology before I started teaching science, so I happen to have a few old heterodyne bat detectors in a box somewhere. Will have to try this magnetometer project sometime. Nice work on that document, thanks for the reference! Cheers., Anthony


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Carbon60
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Re: Solar wind buffets Earth's magnetic field

Post by Carbon60 »

It would make a good school project; maybe team up with physics.

Provides lots of interesting data, rain or shine.

Regards

Stu.


H-alpha, WL and Ca II K imaging kit for various image scales.
Fluxgate Magnetometers (1s and 150s Cadence).
Radio meteor detector.
More images at http://www.flickr.com/photos/solarcarbon60/
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Re: Solar wind buffets Earth's magnetic field

Post by Montana »

That's almost a perfect match Stu, superb data :hamster: just need these clouds to shift out of the way :)

Alexandra


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Carbon60
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Re: Solar wind buffets Earth's magnetic field

Post by Carbon60 »

Thanks, Alexandra. Absolutely......need more Sun!

Stu.


H-alpha, WL and Ca II K imaging kit for various image scales.
Fluxgate Magnetometers (1s and 150s Cadence).
Radio meteor detector.
More images at http://www.flickr.com/photos/solarcarbon60/
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Re: Solar wind buffets Earth's magnetic field

Post by highfnum »

excellent matching


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Re: Solar wind buffets Earth's magnetic field

Post by marktownley »

Good data Stu!


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http://brierleyhillsolar.blogspot.co.uk/
Solar images, a collection of all the most up to date live solar data on the web, imaging & processing tutorials - please take a look!
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