On Feb. 21st, the new Moon passed in front of the sun, off-center, producing a partial solar eclipse. The only place to see it was from space. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) sends this picture [seen above] from geosynchronous orbit approximately 36,000 km above Earth's surface.

Using a bank of 16 mega-pixel cameras, SDO observed the event at multiple extreme ultraviolet wavelengths. Scan the edge of the Moon in this 171 Å image. The little bumps and irregularities you see are lunar mountains backlit by solar plasma. Also, Steele Hill, SDO's Media Specialist at the Goddard Space Flight Center, has prepared a movie of the event.

Beyond the novelty of observing an eclipse from space, these images have practical value to the SDO science team. The sharp edge of the lunar [horizon] helps researchers measure the in-orbit characteristics of the telescope -- e.g., how light diffracts around the telescope's optics and filter support grids. Once these are calibrated, it is possible to correct SDO data for instrumental effects and sharpen the images even more than before.

During the eclipse, the edge of the Moon briefly covered sunspot AR1422, a source of strong ultraviolet emissions. SDO's EVE sensor, which measures the sun's extreme UV output, saw a sharp drop at several wavelengths when the sunspot was behind the Moon.

This should allow scientists to calibrate the spectrum of energy emitted by the sunspot's magnetic canopy -- a rare opportunity, indeed.

The next solar eclipse visible from Earth's surface occurs on May 20, 2012.

A solar wind stream flowing from [a small] coronal hole should reach Earth on Feb. 25th or 26th.
— edited and paraphrased from www.spaceweather.com

At the first of February we presented the new Cycle 24 data and prediction chart from NASA SWPC along with commentary from Tad Cook, K7RA. The following is a belated comment from solarham.com on the same subject.

The current prediction for Sunspot Cycle 24 gives a smoothed sunspot number maximum of about 63 in early 2013. We are currently over three years into Cycle 24. The current predicted size makes this the smallest sunspot cycle in about 100 years.

Solar activity is very low. Sunspot 1422 remains the largest visible sunspot, but is stable. There will be a chance for C-Class flares.

The moon was seen seen in yesterday's SDO images, passing between the spacecraft and the Sun. Large Sunspot 1422 is captured by SDO with the moon blocking the Northwest quadrant.
— edited and paraphrased from www.solarham.com

Today [Wednesday 22 Feb 2012] conditions all HF bands have considerably improved over the effects of the solar wind that kept conditions marginal to poor all weekend and geomagnetic disturbances of the past few days. Some FAI two meter activity is reported this morning from the US, and the "Magic Band" has domestic sporatic-E activity reported on DX Sherlok and since auroral activity is minimal there no other activity type indicated. More than one NCDXF/IARU beacon was heard on 10 and 15 meters clearly again this morning early, although with profound and prolonged QSB.

NOAA has not issued an alert in the last 48 hours. The new sunspot (1422) that appeared just South of 1419 (formerly 1403) is not active. None of the three sunspots visible today are considered active. Only 1422 has any potential for M-class flares today (10%).

This morning, the sunspot number is at 61. We also have an SFI of 103, both down slightly from yesterday. These numbers will likely continue (how ever erratically) to improve over the week as new sunspot groups rotate over the Northeast horizon. One large group of sunspots is in position to rotate into view from the far side this weekend as the current group disappear over the opposite horizon. The solar wind is still a little high today. It is in the caution range of 546 km/s and the polarity is North at this post. We did feel the impact of the solar wind stream from a coronal hole in the Southern hemisphere as described here last week and another is on the way for the 25th. The magnetograph shown Monday recorded the spikes of plasma charge as the IMF disrupts magnetic fields of the Earth.

Egland AFB Ionosonde early morning shows that there are two well formed F-layers already and they are separating with a definite curvature across the frequencies scanned, where they separate. They are strengthening rapidly and elongating as the gray line passes. There is also a very low altitude ionization, in the lower frequencies, taking place that may disappear midday. The MUF is 27.1, and increasing rapidly with the approaching gray line, but as mentioned above more than one 10 meter beacon was hear clearly this morning. The short-range skip distance is < 800 km at 10.7 Mhz and < 400 km at 9.1. The D-region world map produced by NOAA/SWPC Bolder, CO., shows no significant absorption around either Polar region for any of the frequencies tested. Mid-lattitude absorption is expected to be below normal today.

The chance for geomagnetic storms is at 1% today and 10% tomorrow. The propagation indicator on the left sidebar is now showing a lot less red than the weekend. As the magnetic field of the Earth returns to a more normal state, conditions should be slowly improving. The threat of M-class flares has been elevated but now it has been set to 10% today and 10% tomorrow. Sunspot 1422 may be active enough to blast out a C-class flare or two or even an M-class flare as it departs this weekend. Conditions all this week have been quieter and signals conditionally variable, as predicted Monday.