Flare, CME and postfare loops

 

 

 

 

 On 21 Aug. 2026 at 9:09 UT, M1.7 class limb flare started above active region 14507. The flare peaked at 9:57 UT. Bright front of a coronal mass ejection (CME) was observed by LASCO C2 coronagraph at 9:36 UT. As the flare developed, a set of postflare loops was formed above the active region. In classical flare model, the postflare loops are formed  in the tail of rising magnetic flux tube which eventually form the CME. Cartoon published by Cheng et al (2011, DOI: 10.1088/2041-8205/732/2/L25) demonstrates this development. As the reconnection site moves higher in the corona, the postflare loops formed higher and higher. GONG stations in Canary Islands and in Chile recorded the development and evolution of postflare loops. First sign of the reconnection can be seen in GONG/TD images starting at about 10:10 UT. Attached video shows the development and evolution of postflare loops as observed by GONG/TD. Second video shows postflare loops in later phases of CME eruption as observed by GONG/CT.

 

 

GONG data processing update

Processing of the network-merged daily velocity and magnetogram images, p-mode-coefficient time series, and ring-diagram analysis products for GONG month 315 covering the period 20260418 to 20260523,  and  the  p-mode frequency data products for central GONG month 314 spanning 20260313 to 20260417 is completed and the data products are now available.

GONG at CTIO is back on line

GONG at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO, Chile) is back on the Sun and observing! Below is one of the first H-alpha images taken early today (21 Aug 2026).

 

 

What goes up, goes down

On 20 August 2026, C8.0 class flare occurred in active region NOAA 14513. The active region was at about Eastern limb of the Sun. The flare was accompanied by a filament eruption, and a coronal mass ejection (CME).  Flare brightennings start appearing at about 11:24 UT.  Full flare ribbon is seen at 11:34 UT, and the first signs of erupting filament appear a minute later  at 11:35 UT.  CCOR1 observations show bright CME front appearing at about 12:00-12:15 UT. Attached video shows the filament eruption as observed by GONG at Teide (Canary Islands) station.

While most of the filament material leaved the Sun and formed the CME, some material can be seen falling down to the Sun. 

 

Some good news from CTIO

Finally we received good news from CTIO. Their TelOps day crew resumed working on Tololo regularly yesterday, although it will be next week before they have staff staying overnight. NISP team is attempting to restart the GONG operations. The skies over Tololo are beautifully blue (photo is courtesy of S. Heathcote).

 

Update on the status of the CTIO facilities

This is an update on the status of the mountain (CTIO) facilities and the prospects for reopening, which was received from the Director of the Cerro Tololo Observatory.

"Conditions are considerably better than in my last report and we are almost, but not quite, ready to resume regular operations.

After more than 20 days hard work by facilities operations  staff and contractors the access road has been repaired sufficiently to allow safe access by staff and, importantly, by heavy vehicles.  TelOps staff began recovery and planned engineering work at the Blanco telescope last Monday and teams from SOAR, Gemini and Rubin were able to get to Pachon for initial inspections last Friday.  We were also able to resupply the generators on Tololo last Friday and trucked water from a new provisional well to refill the water tanks this Monday.  You can find more information and pictures of the recovery work here 

Because a new storm front was forecast to bring rain and snow again today and continue over the weekend we again suspended work on the mountain today for safety reasons. However, so far the front has been much weaker than predicted so we may be able to resume work tomorrow.  FacOps have been able to provide hot lunches for the work crews this week and plans to resume full food and lodging services next week This will allow us to return to something more like normality with the full day crew going to the mountain each day and some staff staying overnight by the middle of next week.

So I hope that it will be possible to begin powering up and resuming operation of your telescopes on Tololo by the end of next week."

Total Solar Eclipse as observed at Ebro Observatory

On 11-12 August 2026, the IAU Working Group on Coordination of Synoptic Observations of the Sun and the International Space Weather Action Team on Data sets of historical observations of solar and geomagnetic activity (S1-03) held a joint workshop on "Synoptic ground-based solar observations for space weather and space climate". The workshop took place at the Ebro Observatory and included presentations about preservation of historical data, use of historical data for modern scientific research, current state of observational facilities in different countries, and plans for future networks of synoptic observations (ngGONG and SOLARNET/SPRING). The workshop was attended by scientists from Belgium, Czech Republic, Germany, Japan, Spain, Switzerland, and USA. On the last day, the workshop was visited by Dr.  Núria Montserrat, Minister for Research and Universities of the Catalan Government and Ellen S. Baker, a former NASA astronaut. Photo 1 shows (left to righth) Dr. Juan José Curto, Dr.  Montserrat, and Ms. Baker greeting the workshop participants. Their visit was related to the activities organized by the Observatory with respect to public viewing of the total solar eclipse.

 

The event included several public lectures about the history of Ebro Observatory, space flights from the perspective of former Spanish and US astronauts, astronomy studies of exoplanets, and space weather effects on Earth (photo 2). Before and during the eclipse, the observatory personnel was taking measurements of the atmospheric properties (wind, temperature) using small weather balloons (photo 3). Children were invited to draw pictures of solar atmosphere and stellar nebula (photo 4). 

 

Total solar eclipse took place at the end of the day during the sunset (see photos 5 and 6). After the dark, the evening concluded by public viewing of Perseids meteor shower.

 

Last image (photo 7) shows partial solar eclipse as observed by GONG at Teide station on Canary Islands.