Not much happening with the Sun over the last week, Zero sunspots & no Coronal Mass Ejections. A stream of solar wind flowing from a southern hole in the sun's atmosphere could graze Earth's magnetic field on Sept. 17-18. Arctic sky watchers should be alert for auroras.

Found this image of an Analemma, the figure-8 shape traced out by the Sun over the course of a year. Hungarian photographer György Soponyai stitched together more than 30 pictures spanning 12 months to reveal the Analemma of 2018-2019 over the city of Budapest. The upper and lower tips of the "8" represent the solstices.

Just a casual Astronomer. More into Solar events pertaining to Amateur(Ham) Radio & their effects on shortwave radio signals. Sunspots charge the F layer in the Ionosphere allowing signals to bounce around the earth. With the solar minimum at the moment, signal range is greatly affected, were as back in 2010 - 12 when we where in Solar Maximum it was quite easy to make radio contacts on the other side of the world.

There are a few theories that Sun Spots play a part in the Earth`s weather patterns. Might be just a coincidence but back in 2010 - 13, there seemed to be a lot more rainfall about. Lake Eyre was full & so were the major dams in my area. Previous to this we had the Millennial Drought which occurred at the same time as the last Solar Minimum.

The cycle is around 11 years, so should be back in Max around 2021 - 2023, but knowing how strong it will be is anyone's guess.

Still have a lot to learn about this subject!

Might be Lennox Walker you are thinking of, that would have been back in the 70`s though. Based his forecast on Sunspots & the alignment of the planets. His son Hayden has continued the tradition.

"Small sunspot AR2749 has a magnetic polarity that identifies it as a member of old Solar Cycle 24. It poses no threat for strong solar flares" - SpaceWeather.com

Seems it is a leftover from the last cycle.

Stunning image there. That got me looking at the colours that can be see. (One day Americans will learn to spell correctly)
https://www.space.com/15...s-earth-facts-sdcmp.html


What causes the colors?
The colors most often associated with the aurora borealis are pink, green, yellow, blue, violet, and occasionally orange and white. Typically, when the particles collide with oxygen, yellow and green are produced. Interactions with nitrogen produce red, violet, and occasionally blue colors.

The type of collision also makes a difference to the colors that appear in the sky: atomic nitrogen causes blue displays, while molecular nitrogen results in purple. The colors are also affected by altitude. The green lights typically in areas appear up to 150 miles (241 km) high, red above 150 miles; blue usually appears at up to 60 miles (96.5 km); and purple and violet above 60 miles.

If there is an event strong enough to wipe out GPS that would be the least of your problems!

What a magnificent animation of this solar activity

'
Spectacular eruption from solar active region AR 12734 with a large-scale coronal propagating front and quasi-periodic wave train. But this was over 7 months ago. We may not expect a show like this in this elongated solar minimum conditions.'
https://twitter.com/halo...atus/1184225447279779840