Video and info courtesy of NASAs spaceweather: ALMOST-X FLARE: Departing sunspot AR1996 erupted on March 12th at 2234 UT, producing an M9-category blast that almost crossed into X-territory. NASAs Solar Dynamics Observatory captured the extreme ultra-violet flash: UV radiation from the flare caused waves of ionization to ripple through Earths upper atmosphere, but they quickly subsided. Otherwise the flare was not geoeffective. The sunspots location near the suns eastern limb mitigated any Earth effects. The next flare could have a greater influence on our planet. Sunspot AR2002 is directly facing Earth, and it has a beta-gamma-delta magnetic field that harbors energy for strong explosions. NOAA forecasters estimate an 80% chance of M-class flares and a 15% chance of X-flares on March 13th. spaceweather/
Posted on: Thu, 13 Mar 2014 11:17:46 +0000