ALL QUIET: Despite yesterday's rapid growth of a sunspot in the sun's southern hemisphere, solar activity remains low. All of the sunspots on the solar disk have simple magnetic fields that pose no threat for strong solar flares. NOAA forecasters say the chance of an X-flare today is no more than 1%. https://www.spaceweather.com/images2022/17oct22/rapidgrowth.gif

ORIONID METEOR SHOWER: Earth is entering a stream of debris from Halley's Comet, source of the annual Orionid meteor shower. Forecasters expect the shower to peak on Oct. 21st with as many as 20 meteors/hr. Orionids strike Earth's atmosphere traveling 148,000 mph. At that speed, they often leave glowing "trains" (incandescent bits of debris) that linger for minutes, swirling among the glittering stars of Orion, Gemini, and Taurus. The best time to look is between 1:00 am and sunrise. https://spaceweather.com/images2019/10oct19/skymap_orionids.png

ALL QUIET: There are five sunspot groups on the solar disk. None poses a threat for strong flares; they all have stable magnetic fields unlikely to explode. NOAA forecasters say there is a 5% chance of M-class solar flares and no more than a 1% chance of X-flares on Oct. 24th.