I decided to roll the dice, that my CV joint on my car wouldn't blowup, for a run up north out of city lights to see the aurora--& I'm so glad I did! Two shots from northern California: First is from Doyle & the second is from Frenchman Lake. What an amazing display! For a time the aurora covered a 180 degrees from east to west & was overhead & could be seen in the south! I shot these photos with a 15mm f/2.0 30sec ISO400.
Space Weather Message Code: WARPC0
Serial Number: 100
Issue Time: 2024 May 11 0206 UTC
WARNING: Proton 100MeV Integral Flux above 1pfu expected
Valid From: 2024 May 11 0205 UTC
Valid To: 2024 May 11 1200 UTC
Warning Condition: Onset
Potential Impacts: An enhancement in the energetic portion of the solar radiation spectrum may indicate increased biological risk to astronauts or passengers and crew in high latitude, high altitude flights. {See attachment}
Now that's fascinating. While everyone's talking about all the active #Solar activity, I just worked PJ2/W4IPC on 28.012.1 MHz CW. #AmateurRadio#HamRadio
@annajanejoyner
One major climate message that we've really got to elevate above all others is that addressing global warming is way, way, way, way less expensive than ignoring it!
The cost of solar power has dropped around 90% over the past decade, and battery storage costs dropped 85% during the same period.
If you have a solar filter or glasses left over from the eclipse in North America and Canada, go check out the sun right now! Amazing cluster of sunspots visible!
Managed to catch a just-shy-of-X1-class flare a few hours ago when I put my scope out on the deck.
The complex chaos of magnetic fields — that is much, much larger than the size of Earth — designated as Region 3664 and Region 3668 (center right sunspot smudge) has been spawning a great number of flares recently, flinging an truly stupendous amount of energy and relativistic particles out into the solar system.
Growth in #solar & #wind power pushed #renewable generation to a record 30% of global electricity production in 2023, putting a global target to triple renewable capacity by 2030 within sight, Ember find https://buff.ly/44zrTER
In some ways the green transition is already happening: it now looks like last year the world overall managed to supply around 30% of electricity through renewable energy (primarily wind & solar).
And solar continues to be the fastest growing renewable energy source, now (for the second year) being the most used source across the world.
This does offer some hope that (albeit late in the day) we are seeing a shift in energy generation!
Not able to use a typical AC-powered fan, used a 12V car/truck radiator fan, a DC17-55V to DC12V adapter, and a PWM motor module as both a power switch and speed regulator, 4 14x20 inch MERV13 filters and some old 2x2s to build the frame.
It moves a LOT of air at full power (~120W), but very much on the noisy side!
In case you thought that oil and gas were the only energy commodities that see booms and busts:
"[Chinese solar] companies are trying to turn a corner after #solar manufacturers saw profits vanish as a wave of new factories that were aimed at capturing a growing market came online in the past year. Instead, the new supply has overwhelmed demand, sending panel prices to record lows and annihilating margins."
Finally! A clear day for some solar imaging and what a view today! My phone has been buzzing all day as all of these spots are firing off solar flares.
This one took weeks to write. It's about me finding a way to significantly reduce the power consumption of a Raspberry Pi Pico W working as a weather station, collecting environmental data.
I am also writing about powering the Pico using solar panels, and this time it's a success, my weather station can now run indefinitely, powered by the sun!
Can you spot the difference? Yes, the day is finally here (well, technically it's not yet, the electrician is coming out to do the interconnect with Georgia Power tomorrow)! I'm so excited that GeorgiaBright (free loans for solar installs if you're below a certain income threshold so you don't have any upfront payment) made this possible for me, I never thought I'd be able to do it!
Been working outside this afternoon so I can babysit my telescope while it takes a set of pics. The sun kicked off a big flare last night, so I was hoping it'd be active today and make for a good timelapse, but so far it's been relatively boring. Basically no flare activity.
At least I'm actually getting some work done out here for once lol