FARSIDE CME: A spectacular CME rocketed away from the sun's northwestern limb during the early hours of March 18th: movie. The probable source was old sunspot AR1429, still active as it transits the far side of the sun. Earth will not be affected by the cloud.

NORTHERN LIGHTS: For the third day in a row, a high-speed solar wind stream is buffeting Earth's magnetic field. The jostling is not enough to cause a full-fledged geomagnetic storm, but some nice intermittent auroras are flickering around the Arctic Circle. In the northern village of Ivujivik, Quebec, Sylvain Serre photographed an outburst on March 18th:

"What an incredible night," says Serre. "The Northern Lights weren't there when I first went outside, but after 5 minutes they were so strong that I had to try new settings for my camera."

NOAA forecasters estimate a 30% chance of geomagnetic activity during the next 24 hours. High-latittude sky watchers should remain alert for auroras as the solar wind continues to blow. Aurora alerts: text, phone.

I thought I would share this email I received from my brother