#space bulletin

[boccher]

another total lunar eclipse (blood moon) is occurring in 3 weeks on the 3rd of march (morning in the western hemisphere, evening in the eastern hemisphere)

anywhere within the yellow boundaries will be able to see the entire total phase of the eclipse lasting 58 minutes, while anywhere within the red boundaries will be able to see at least part of the total phase during dusk or dawn

[boccher]

On march 13th (night)/14th (morning) a total lunar eclipse will be visible across all of the americas, the total phase will last just over an hour. You can check what time it occurs for you on timeanddate or on stellarium

[boccher]

hey boccher how's the moopn

haha you said moopn

anyway there's a total lunar eclipse visible across most of africa, asia and oceania on the night of september 7 to the morning of september 8, check it out

[boccher]

SWPC forecasts a G3 geomagnetic storm possible for 9th December from an earth-facing CME, which could bring aurora to mid-latitudes.

This CME happens to be coming from the same sunspot group that caused last month's G4 storm, in almost the exact same position in its rotation after being inactive for a similar amount of time. I hope that it continues to copy last month's activity and produces more CMEs in our direction

[boccher]

SWPC forecasts strong G3 geomagnetic storms for June 4th & 5th, due to 3 intersecting CMEs headed towards Earth. The CMEs don't appear to be particularly strong individually, but we've seen over the past few geomagnetic storms that interacting CMEs can amplify each other exponentially. Looking at the forecast models myself, the earliest possible impact time will probably be at 24 hours from now, and most likely later than that. SWPC should release a more precise 3-hourly forecast later today.

The next two nights will have a short window of moonless dark skies at the very beginning of the night, before the bright waning gibbous moon lights up the sky. There is a chance for aurora at mid-latitudes, but the window of opportunity will probably be pretty small for most people.

[boccher]

SPACE BULLETIN

I've been way too out of front to do these lately

first of all there's that total solar eclipse in Spain and Iceland on August 12. https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/solar/2026-august-12. partial solar eclipse for most of the rest of Europe. Don't look at the sun without a specialised solar filter, except when the sun is fully eclipsed, in which case you must be absolutely sure exactly what time the total eclipse starts and ends (which varies greatly by location!!!) so you don't burn your eyes at the end of it.

the Perseids meteor shower in the northern hemisphere happens to peak on the 12th to 13th, in the late night/early morning hours. This is the biggest annual meteor shower and you can expect a rate of around 100 meteors an hour from dark sky sites at peak activity. and the moon isn't in the way this time! because it's mingling with the sun instead! the Perseids has a fairly broad peak so you can go out tonight and expect elevated meteor rates of 20-40 per hour, and it'll last a few days after the 13th as well

also a more niche event but periodic comet 220P Mcnaught has underwent a 2nd consecutive outburst, brightening from magnitude 17-18 to magnitude 6, placing it comfortably within binocular visibility. like look at those numbers that's a crazy increase in brightness. that's like almost 50000x brighter than it originally was. you can find its location in the sky on stellarium or another digital sky atlas, it's also in the morning sky

[boccher]

A fast earth-directed CME was produced by an X1.9 flare on 18th January, 18:00 UTC (8 hours ago as of this post). No SWPC forecast has been released yet. This CME appears to be faster than the 9th October 2024 CME which caused severe G4+ geomagnetic storming. I would guess a transit time of 28-36 hours, so the CME's arrival will probably occur 20-28 hours after this post. The CME doesn't look exceptionally dense, the bulk of the mass is pointed east of Earth, and the flare did not produce as strong a proton storm as the large 9th October 2024 and 11th November 2025 flares. My guess would be that a strong G3 geomagnetic storm is almost certain, and a severe G4 storm is possible, with a slim chance of a G4+ storm depending on if the magnetic field of the CME aligns well with Earth's.

[boccher]

X FLARE NUMBER 2 BABY SURELY THIS ONE WILL BE THE ONE

much faster CME than yesterday's, with a corresponding rise in incoming solar protons. definitely a more proper flare than the last one. gonna be interesting to see how the two CME's interact in the coming days