CSPAR

About the Solar X-ray status monitor

The X-ray Solar status monitor downloads  data periodically from the NOAA Space Environment Center FTP server. The previous 24 hours of 5 minute Long-wavelength X-ray data from each satellite  (GOES 8 and GOES 10) is  analyzed, and an appropriate level of activity for the past 24 hours is assigned as follows:

Normal: Solar X-ray flux is quiet (< 1.00e-6 W/m^2)

Active: Solar X-ray flux is active (>= 1.00e-6 W/m^2)

M Class Flare: An M Class flare has occurred (X-ray flux >= 1.00e-5 W/m^2)

X Class Flare: An X Class flare has occurred (X-ray flux >= 1.00e-4 W/m^2)

Mega Flare: An unprecedented X-ray event  has occurred (X-ray flux >= 1.00e-3 W/m^2) The designation “Mega Flare” was chosen by Kevin Loch when the status monitor was created on March 4, 1999. There is no “official” designation for flares in this range.

About the Geomagnetic Field status monitor

The Geomagnetic Field status monitor downloads data periodically from the NOAA Space Environment Center FTP server. The previous 24 hours of 3 hour Planetary Kp Index  data is analyzed and an appropriate level of activity for the past 24 hours is assigned as follows:

Quiet: the Geomagnetic Field is quiet (Kp < 4)

Active: the Geomagnetic Field has been unsettled (Kp=4)

Storm: A Geomagnetic Storm has occurred (Kp>4)

UTC or Universal Time Conversion The Earth has 24 time zones, but when astronomers mention a time, it’s often “Universal Time”     (Coordinated Universal Time or UTC). to find your time zaone use this chart and either add or subtract from GMT or UTC as it is known now.

Status monitors as well as the information pertaining to them are provided courtesy of n3kl.org

GOES Magnetometer

The GOES Hp plot contains the 1-minute averaged parallel component of the magnetic field in nanoTeslas (nT), as measured at GOES-13 (W75) and GOES-15 (W89). The Hp component is perpendicular to the satellite orbit plane and Hp is essentially parallel to Earth’s rotation axis. If these data drop to near zero, or less, when the satellite is on the dayside it may be due to a compression of Earth’s magnetopause to within geosynchronous orbit, exposing satellites to negative and/or highly variable magnetic fields. On the nightside, a near zero, or less, value of the field indicates strong currents that are often associated with substorms and an intensification of currents in the Earth’s geomagnetic tail.

Noon and midnight local time at the satellite are plotted as N and M. Default scaling is 0 to 200 nanoTesla. Non-default scaling to include infrequent extreme values is lableled in red to emphasize the change in scale.

This page updates dynamically every 5 minutes.