INCREASING CHANCE OF FLARES: A big sunspot is growing in the sun’s northern hemisphere, adding to a proliferation of newly-forming spots around the solar disk. The uptick in sunspot number is producing a corresponding increase in the odds of a solar flare. NOAA forecasters estimate a 40% chance of M-class flares and a 5% chance of X-flares this weekend. Solar flare alerts: SMS Text
‘MYSTERY HALO’ AROUND THE SUN: We’ve all seen a 22-degree sun halo. It’s a ring of light that surrounds the sun on cirrus-cloudy days. Yesterday, June 14th, Dan Bush of Albany, Missouri, saw a mystery halo deep inside the usual ring:
“This solar halo was quite remarkable, says Bush. “Is the smaller halo real or just an artifact of the lens? I think it’s real.”
Indeed it is. The inner halo is an unusual 9-degree ‘odd-radius’ halo. This type of halo is caused by sunlight shining through pyramidal ice crystals, which are only rarely found in cirrus clouds. The common 22-degree halo is created by ordinary pencil-shaped crystals.

