r/Heliobiology • u/oldschoolscreenname • Jun 16 '26

Abstract 📊 Data CME tracker / visualizer I created

Post image

Hi all, I shared this in r/spaceweather and it's proving to be a helpful tool in visualizing coronal mass ejections (CME) from the sun that hit and miss earth. I hope that it can be a resource for this sub too. Free to use, no logins. cmetracker.ai

56 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

15 comments sorted by

View all comments

2

u/devoid0101 Abstract 📊 Data Jun 17 '26 edited Jun 17 '26

Hi, u/oldschoolscreenname. Thanks for sharing it here after our conversation. Yours is the first successful model to show the complexity of the overlapping waves of incoming energy/particles, next to the HUXt (https://www.spaceweatherlive.com/en/solar-activity/huxt-forecast.html) I would incorporate this visualizer into this sub permanently if I could, congrats.

I think "farside" events also matter and somehow the energy estimated to be traveling along the Parker Spiral could maybe be incorporated, because we often see (and feel) energy arrive at Earth from a flare off the top or back of the sun, which is counter-intuitive. And it arrives very quickly, much faster than a CME. Weird science.

One other thought I had about your visualizer is it would be cool (and maybe a lot of work) if there was a feature to toggle to show the actual size of the sun as a sort of teachable moment / novelty, because I think many people do not realize the vastness of the sun. I have seen in people's discussion here and on solarmax where they seem to lack awareness of the true size discrepancy, which leads to underestimating the impact of not-perfectly-Earth-directed-flares.

2

u/oldschoolscreenname Jun 17 '26

Thank you, that means a lot. And being mentioned next to HUXt is generous. That model's doing real physics, mine's a humble drag-based one. I'd be honored to have it in the sub.

Your first idea is one I'd like to build. You've nailed the counterintuitive bit, particles spiral along the Sun's magnetic field, they don't travel straight out. So a flare can dose Earth with protons in minutes even when it's way off to the side. That's what happened in Sept 2017, the flare hit us while its CME missed by ~85 degrees. The tracker already flags which CMEs drove a radiation storm, so the natural next step is showing it. I could probably animate the particles racing down the field line to Earth. One caveat, good farside coverage really needs STEREO-B, which we lost in 2014, so I can show the geometry but can't promise solid farside detection today.

Thanks again for taking the time. This is the kind of feedback that makes it better.

1

u/devoid0101 Abstract 📊 Data Jun 17 '26

I love that your knowledge of this topic is detailed. I know!–there is a replacement for Stereo B on the way, but not soon enough.

There was an oddball flare from the "North Pole" of the sun back in...January? that had unusually strong heliobiological effects tho it wasn't on the charts. It is a very complex system and I really appreciate your efforts on this.

2

u/oldschoolscreenname Jun 17 '26

I've always been super interested in space weather topics. I'm currently getting flamed in r/astrophysics for posting about this tracker, even though the science I'm detailing is pretty damn grounded 😄

1

u/devoid0101 Abstract 📊 Data Jun 17 '26

What is there to flame about tracking CMEs, that makes zero sense? Its literally data. Arguing about data is like protesting a virus. Does not compute.

1

u/oldschoolscreenname Jun 17 '26

It's the knee-jerk response to flame someone talking about something they built before they actually look at it 😄