RADIO HABANA CUBA
SOLAR ACTIVITY UPDATE and SOHO SATELLITE REPORT
By NA5N PAUL HARDEN
July 29, 1998Presented by ARNIE CORO
Host of "Dxers Unlimited"SEND YOUR COMMENTS, QUESTIONS AND IDEAS DIRECTLY TO ME AT: arnie@radiohc.org
The sun has been very quiet for the past couple of weeks, with the solar flux dropping to below 100. However, inspite of the low solar activity, solar flux has been on the rise past few days and now at 120, with the A-index at 6 for very quiet geomagnetic conditions. This increase is due to the 28-day solar rotation, causing a 28-day fluctuation of the solar flux. This is not seen during a quiet sun, so these 28-day fluctuations, now being present since last september, are indicative that we are well on our way into the active sun period.
Conditions should be good for the next two weeks, barring any significant solar disturbances (which also tend to coincide with the high solar flux period of the 28-day cycle).
There are no active sunspot regions; magnetic fields around the sunspot areas are very minimal, so at this time, there is nothing to suggest any pending solar storms.
SOHO Scientific Solar Satellite located!!!
As many of you may have heard, the SOHO satellite has been found, although it still remains inactive. Radio pulses from the Arecibo Radiotelescope (Puerto Rico) were used to illuminate SOHO, and the echoes were detected at JPL Goldstone, CA with an accuracy of a few yards ... accurate enough to detect that SOHO is in a very slow spin. It is hopeful that this slow spin will allow the solar cells to slowly drift through sunlight sufficient to begin charging the on-board batteries. When the battery voltage is sufficiently recharged, SOHO will self initiate a beacon "please find me" mode. At that time, it is hoped commands will be processed to stop the spin, aiming it back at the sun and fully charging the batteries. If successful, then a triage of the onboard instruments will begin to determine what level of operation can be restored. This, however, may be several months away. But the likelihood of recovering a good chunk of SOHO now appears feasible, though patience is the key word waiting for the slowly spinning spacecraft to slow down a bit more.
Arnie Coro CO2KK
Havana, Cuba
30 July, 1998Postal address:
Arnie Coro, "Dxers Unlimited"
Radio Havana Cuba
PO Box 6240, Havana, CUBA 10600
phone: 53-7-814243
phone res: 53-7-301794
e-mail: arnie@radiohc.org
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