SPOTLESS SUN SPARKS BRIGHT AURORAS: The sun is sliding into a deep Solar Minimum that continues to defy some expectations. For much of the past week, the sun was absolutely blank--no sunspots--and solar activity was deemed "very low." Nevertheless, space weather was stormy. From Oct. 11th through 15th, not a single day went by without a geomagnetic storm. Bright auroras were sighted not only around the poles, but also in a number of US states. The reason for these counterintuitive space storms is explained on today's edition of Spaceweather.com--along with expectations for more in the days ahead.
Above: On Oct. 12, 2017, the sky above Tromsø, Norway, exploded in a spray of geomagnetic light. Colin Palmer photographed these bright green auroras from the island of Kvaloya. More images may be found in the Realtime Aurora Photo Gallery.
