‰ Now 18 WPM transition file follows ‰

In the past couple of weeks we hoped for a return of sunspots
because activity was detected on the side of the Sun opposite from
earth.  The Sun rotates relative to earth about every 27 to 28 days,
although the rotation varies somewhat with latitude, and so unless
it fades quickly away, far side activity may come into view.  Until
fairly recently astrophysicists could only guess on far side events,
but some modern methods have extended the view.  Helioseismology is
the study of pressure waves in the Sun, and can be used to detect
sunspots on the far side by looking for magnetic variations
corresponding to sunspots.  Pressure waves bounce around inside the
Sun, and the echoes change when they reflect off of magnetically
complex areas.  Stanford University has a page devoted to acoustic
imaging of the Suns far side.  Wikipedia has a page as well.  NASAs
STEREO Mission, Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory, can provide
views around the sides of the Sun, because it employs two identical
satellite observatories, one leading earths orbit, and the other
trailing.  It can also provide three dimensional images.  For
details, see the NASA STEREO mission web page.  Also check the
stereo.gsfc.nasa.gov page.  You can see also the satellites current
positions from this page.  Besides the spot indications from the far
side, the NOAA/USAF daily forecast predicted a rise in daily solar
flux, which could correlate with sunspot appearance.  On the
swpc.noaa.gov site you can check the daily forecasts going back
three weeks.  Note on December 23 they first predicted a rise of
solar flux to 71, running from December 31 through January 5.  The
next day, December 24, their prediction changed to December 27
through January 5.  This remained until the December 29 forecast,
when it changed to 70 for December 30 through January 7, and below
70 after that.  The latest forecast on January 8 had solar flux
remaining below 70 until January 15, then rising to 70 for January
16 through February 5, but never rising above 70.  On Wednesday,
January 7 a sunspot appeared very briefly in the lower right portion
of the Suns image.  It was so brief that NOAA did not record it at
www.swpc.noaa.gov, but Spaceweather.com reported a sunspot number of
11 for the day, and the magnetic polarity was consistent with a new
Cycle 24 spot.  Monthly propagation charts between four USA regions
and twelve overseas locations are at the qst/propcharts link off the
ARRL web page.  Sunspot numbers were 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, and 0 with a
mean of 0.  10R7 cm flux was 68R9, 69R9, 69R5, 68R8, 69R2, 68R7, and
69 with a mean of 69R1.  Estimated planetary A indices were 6, 3, 9,
4, 4, 3 and 3 with a mean of 4R6.  Estimated mid latitude A indices
were 5, 3, 8, 5, 3, 2 and 1 with a mean of 3R9‚

‰ End of 18 WPM transition file ‰