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The activity of the Sun varies on a cycle with a period of approximately 11 years. Periods of low solar activity are followed by a few years of sharply increased number of solar spots, flares, and coronal mass ejections (CMEs), disrupting Earth's magnetic field and causing magnetic storms. With the next Solar cycle maximum approaching I wanted to get on the fun too, so I set to build my own device for detecting and recording those magnetic storms, a.k.a. a magnetometer.
This website describes the design I came up with, documents the step-by-step construction process, and includes all the electronic diagrams and software you may need if you want to build your own magnetometer, should you attempt to do so. In addition, real-time data from the magnetometer, updated every few minutes, is available here.
If you have any questions or comments, please do not hesitate to contact me. My e-mail address is at the bottom of this page.
Acknowledgements
I'd like to thank Boris Mohar, Daniel Caster, and everybody from the sci.electronics.design newsgroup for the help with materials and great design ideas.
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