October Is Aurora Season - 1st October

For all the visual observers our star currently has several Earth sized spots visible in only modest equipment, alas these are dying active regions, and with their stable magnetic fields offer little in the way of promise for flares.  It is at these times we look at the sun in other wavelengths to see how our star can influence our planet.  In this image taken by the Solar Dynamics Observatory the large dark area just to the bottom left of centre disk is a coronal hole, this area on the Sun has open magnetic field lines, and as such is spewing plasma and charged particles out into inter planetary space.  This could well impact Earth as early as October 4th sparking displays of Aurora in northern polar regions.  October is statistically the second best month (after March) for seeing aurora.  Fingers crossed for great displays!