#may 2024

[rabbitmilk]

Silene latifolia

5.21.24

[hldailyupdate]

Louis waving to fans in Chile! (24 May 2024)

x

[richardarmitagefanpage]

Richard is photographed by Billie Charity at the Hay Festival 2024. (May 31, 2024)

📷: billie_charity

[7clubs]

i wasn't really a greek mythology kid when i was young. however i was obsessed with exactly one goddess and her name is eris and i'm very pleased to report supergiant games engineered her specifically for me. something is very wrong with her <3

[annafridacharlotte]

[liteee]

Comfy wolf

[yingui]

postcanon wangxian ❤️

[harveyguillensource]

The Shadows cast and crew celebrated Matt’s 50th birthday on the show’s last day of filming!

[pappikapon]

IS HE STUPID!

[dduane]

Today's auroral shenanigans

Relatively speaking, yesterday night (May 11/12) was a bit of "not much" for aurora-watchers, compared to the night of the 10th/11th. (Which, to be fair, was a most unusual event, and it wouldn't be surprising if it wasn't equaled for a long, long time.)

Nonetheless, the Sun continues to be in an interesting mood at the moment... specifically the big sunspot region AR3664, which is the one responsible for the auroral extravaganza of May 10th. You can just see it in this next image, getting ready to rotate away from us around the Sun's rightward limb.

(For those interested in scale: that complex of sunspots is about fifteen times the diameter of the Earth. You could drop the whole planet into the middle of the biggest one and lose it. A timelapse video of its growth is over here at YouTube, if you're interested.)

As AR3664 continues to spit out CMEs and flares, the NOAA has issued a geomagnetic storm watch for today, tonight and tomorrow—with the suggestion that conditions like those of the night of the 10th may in the relatively short term be about to repeat themselves.

This is a "watch" rather than a "warning," reflecting some uncertainty over exactly how the various incoming coronal mass injections are likely to behave on reaching Earth orbit. (Also, the CMEs aren't being aimed straight at us, but off to one side as the sunspot region rotates further and further toward the sun's edge: so this adds somewhat to the unpredictability of it all.)

The animation below comes from the SOHO spacecraft's LASCO C3 coronagraph instrument. It starts on May 10th and runs through until early on the morning of May 12th. You can see the newest incoming CMEs right at the end of it.

(BTW, I think the two bright objects to right and left of the Sun are probably comets passing through, as LASCO images normally mask out any planets that would be in view.)

Anyway, as for what this means for auroral activity tonight? It's tough to tell as yet. The planetary K index (which expresses the relative strength of geomagnetic storms) has dropped back down into near-baseline levels at the moment.

But when those new CMEs and the solar wind associated with them hits the atmosphere, things may change suddenly.

We'll soon see...

And an afterthought: AR3664 will soon be off around the Sun's edge, and invisible to us. It'll be interesting to see what happens to it after that.

The Sun takes 27 days to rotate, as a whole: the poles take longer, the equatorial regions a shorter time. In a couple of weeks or less, what will greet us, rotating around toward Earth's POV on that left-hand side? Will AR3664 have dissolved and vanished away, as sunspot groups so often do... or grown even bigger?

ETA 1, 12 May 2024, 1820 UT: Like a kitty coughing up hairball after cosmic hairball, AR has popped yet another X-class flare.

ETA 2, May 13 2024, 0100 IDT / 0000 UT: New G3 storm warning dropped.

[ryanguzmansource]

🎥 • ryanaguzman: Thank you, Twitch! You changed my life without getting the proper feedback from me. I've felt imposter syndrome to the umpteenth degree for calling you a brother but not being more involved in your life, and to that fact, you've changed the definition of connection for me. Now, I aim to connect deep with those I love. Showing all my sides and not just the bright ones. I wouldn't have made that leap without you. I know your spirit is still present, and your essence still lives on in the hearts of many. Quick confession... Since Step Up, I've been so afraid to dance. For fear of being judged on the principle, I played a professional dancer in a movie and was held to a standard of dance I couldn't uphold. It was Twitches voice in my head that reminded me to get out of my head and dance for the fun of it. Laugh at yourself. Be goofy. Mess up. But most of all, be vulnerable and feel the music. In your honor Twitch, I danced for the first time in a long time n let go of the fear. God bless you, brother 🙏🏽

[scarygreenlightning-art]

Robot yuri... save me robot yuri

[godbirdart]

「 for i am of the earth, and the earth is of i, my skill is a gift as much as a labour, and with my art i shall carry forth the wonders i saw while i was here 」 🎨

[geopsych]

The Big Dipper set in aurora colors. We don't usually have aurora. It's the first time I've ever seen it!

[annafridacharlotte]

[liteee]

Reflective material practice