We have Flares Folks... M FOR MAGNIFICENT: In the vocabulary of space weather, an M-flare is a medium-sized explosion. Todays M5.6-class eruption, however, was magnificent. NASAs Solar Dynamics Observatory recorded the blast: An explosion in the magnetic canopy of emerging sunspot AR2151 hurled a dense and twised plume of plasma into space. The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) recorded a bright coronal mass ejection emerging from the blast site: movie. If this CME were to ht Earth, the likely result would be strong geomagnetic storms. However, because of the sunspots location near the suns eastern horizon, Earth was not in the line of fire. Nevertheless, the flare did produce some Earth effects. A pulse of extreme UV radiation partially ionized our planets upper atmosphere. This Sudden Ionospheric Disturbance (SID) altered the normal propagation of VLF (very low frequency) radio transmissions over the the dayside of Earth, an effect recorded at the Polarlightcenter in Lofoten, Norway: data. This sunspot will turn toward Earth in the days ahead, which means subsequent explosions could be more geoeffective.
Posted on: Sun, 24 Aug 2014 21:31:41 +0000
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