Large solar flare and Earth-directed CME

 

GONG/Learmonth (Australia) took observations of a large two-ribbon flare, which was the source of Earth-directed halo Coronal Mass Ejection (CME). M8.2 class flare started at about 23:31 UT on 30 May 2025 near active region  14100. Left panel shows the flare location at about the maximum of its development as observed by GONG. Two panels on the right show the location of bright CME front as observed by LASCO C2 and C3 coronagraphs. NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center issued G4 (Severe) Geomagnetic Storm Watch in Effect for 2 June UTC-Day.

Video shows the full development of H-alpha flare from GONG/LE observations.

GONG data processing update

Release of the network-merged daily velocity and magnetogram images, p-mode-coefficient time series, and mode parameters and flow measurements from ring-diagram technique for GONG month 303, and the p-mode frequency data products for central GONG month 302 may be delayed beyond the usual estimate due to summer staffing schedule.

GONG/TD camera deployment and maintenance

NISP engineering team is completing EVT camera deployment and the preventive maintenance activities at GONG/Teide station in Tenerife, Canary Islands. The team also inspected and cleaned H-alpha filter optics. Both field lenses had copious amounts of oil deposits. The lenses were cleaned which drastically improved the TD image, no more bright sky around the solar image, prominences are more easily seen now (see H-alpha images before/left and after/right its cleaning). 

NSO-CU crew were on site this week filming the work of the engineering team and interviewing IAC/Teide Observatory staff in preparation for 30th anniversary of GONG operations public outreach events.

NISP data center and scientific staff are preparing to start data vetting and camera acceptance activities once GONG/TD is back in operations.

Filament on the disk ... prominence at the limb...

 Chromospheric filaments, dark elongated features observed on solar disk in spectral lines such as H-alpha hydrogen line, become bright prominences, when viewed off the solar limb. Here an example of a filament turning prominence as observed by GONG station at Learmonth, Australia. Upper panel shows full disk images taken with H-alpha over several days. Low panels are a magnified view of a corresponding portion of solar disk.

X-class flare as observed by GONG

 On 25 May 2025 at 1:46 UT, active region 14098 produced a major, X1.1 class flare. The flare was observed in spectral line H-alpha by GONG station at Big Bear, California. Left panel shows full disk image of the Sun at beginning of flare. White box marks approximate location of flaring active region. Middle panels show enlarged areas of this region during the first three minutes of flare. Panels on the right are images from LASCO C2 coronagraph showing a propagation of a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) associated with this flare. The CME first appears in LASCO C2 observations at 02:24 UT or 38 minutes after the flare first observed by GONG.

Are we ready for the worst space weather?

This recent article discusses our preparedness for a catastrophic space weather even: https://www.space.com/astronomy/sun/we-dont-know-how-bad-it-could-get-are-we-ready-for-the-worst-space-weather In the context of  current and future missions, it mentions GONG: "Some of our most dependable tools for tracking the sun are already hard at work. One of these is the Global Oscillation Network Group, or GONG."

 

 

GONG/TD - Refurbishment & PM Team On Site

 The team has arrived at the IAC's Observatorio del Teide! They will be installing the new camera and taking care of their regular preventative maintenance activities over the next 2 weeks. Guest appearances from Dr. Frank Hill and Jesús Patrón Recio.

NISP Engineering team is at Tenerife.

 NISP engineering team is at Tenerife, Canary Islands. They began the preventive maintenance/camera deployment. Some photos of the station were taken at that time.

 

GONG Hα Filter Repair Update

 An update on the repair of four of GONG's filters was received from Daystar Filters on May 19th.

The company owner, Jen Winter writes:

" I have good news to report.  We have completed all of the lab work on all four of your filters in now for service. We ultimately had to build a new optical workstation which includes a Shack-Hartmann test rail at the actual optical production bench for interactive feedback during each layer of the optical rebuild process.  This gives us rapid iteration of technique variation, which revealed processes which correct the optical figure within the filter. The filters are all optical figure, wavelength and CWL-uniformity tuned. However, we haven't had them out for live sun testing as we always do just as one last sanity check."

 The image on the left is a degraded Hα image from Learmonth. This filter was removed from service on 8/31/22 and is one of the four filters being repaired.

The filters should be back in Boulder by the end of May. They will undergo a lab inspection and then testing at the Boulder engineering shelter "TE".

 

Update on GONG/TD painting

The turret was painted this afternoon (May 14). 

The new GONG Turret Windows are here!

 Five new windows arrived this week from Asahi Spectra.

 The windows will be tested at the Boulder "TE" GONG after we've wrapped up the LCVR and UV Blocker tests. The test coupons for the two witness samples (AR Coating & Bandpass Coating) will be shipped to the DKIST optical lab in Maui for testing.

GONG P-modes

The peakfind results for GONG Month 302 show that the frequency shifts have started to decrease indicating that the solar maximum has already passed.  

GONG data processing update

Processing has been completed for p-mode coefficient time-series and rings data products for GONG month 302, and the p-mode frequency data products for central GONG month 301. The results will go through the final quality control before releasing it to the public. 

Naked-eye sunspot continues traversing solar disk

As predicted by GONG far-side imaging, the active region has crossed the solar limb on April 28! The leading sunspot is large—visible to the naked eye with proper solar filters. So far, the region produced two M-class flares, and a number of C-class flares.

Evolution of  this region over last few days can be seeing at https://testbed.swpc.noaa.gov/products/gong-imagery

Far-Side Solar Active Regions: A New Data Set for Enhanced Space Weather Forecasting

 A novel approach to studying the far-side solar active regions by NSO/NISP early career scientist, Amr Hamada was featured in the latest issue of SCOSTEP/PRESTO Newsletter (vol. 43, April 2025). GONG data were used for this study, which also includes the application of machine learning (ML) in heliophysics.

Painting of GONG/TD shelter

 GONG/TD (Tenerife) shelter was repaired and painted on 22-23 April, 2025. The turret will be painted later.

 

Charting the Sun’s Subsurface Weather Tied to Its 11-Year Activity Cycle

Recent Press Release of the Ministry of Science & Technology of India highlights the use of GONG data in a recent study by an international team of scientists:

https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2125195