As predicted, yesterday’s sunspot (AR2773) turned out to be very short-lived, lasting barely half a day — it has already dissipated, meaning the Sun’s deep, dark, and drawn-out solar minimum persists with spotless days now reaching 190 in 2020 (or 71%).
AR2773 –and the magnetic froth encompassing it– did, however, manage to deliver some perturbations to Earth’s magnetic field. This agitation resulted in a G1-class geomagnetic storm which in-turn allowed solar wind blowing at almost 500 km/s to slip through a crack in Earth’s magnetic field.

The wind fueled stunning bright-green Auroras across the skies of the far-northern latitudes: “It was a great display–our first ‘big one’ of the season,” says photographer Markus Varik from Tromso, Norway.

UPDATE: Stunning “pink” auroras were also spotted (shown below).

Pink is significant, writes Dr Tony Phillips of spaceweather.com. It means that particles from space are descending lower than usual in Earth’s atmosphere, through cracks in the magnetic field. Green auroras happen when electrons strike oxygen atoms 100 to 200 km above Earth’s surface. Pink appears when the electrons burrow deeper, striking nitrogen molecules at the 100 km level and below.

Earth’s magnetic field is waning in line with both a Grand Solar Minimum and a Magnetic Pole Shift — these two independently occurring factors drastically reduce Earth’s magnetic field strength, the major upshots of which include: a) an influx of atmospheric Cosmic Rays meaning increased cloud nucleation AND a heating of the muons in silica-rich magma which triggers large-scale volcanic eruptions; and b) outbursts from the Sun having a much larger impact here on Earth, meaning even relatively minor events such as this week’s G1 can produce surprisingly dramatic results [a) contributes to global cooling, while b) means trouble for the electrical grid]

NASA is attempting to paint the upcoming Grand Solar Minimum as a window of opportunity for space missions: “the improving ability to make such predictions about space weather are good news for mission planners who can schedule human exploration missions during periods of lower radiation.” But this is absurd and serves as yet another example of government obfuscation and half-truths: NASA are effectively forecasting a return to the Dalton Minimum (1790-1830) but give no mention of the brutal cold, crop loss, famine, war, and powerful Volcanic eruptions associated with it. Neither are they warning of the widespread destruction a major solar flare (or CME) will cause to our modern-day electrical grid during a time of ‘shields down’.