Environment & Energy
Related: About this forumX Class Solar Flare Sends ‘Shockwaves’ on The Sun
NASA image captured March 6, 2012
To view a video of this event go to: www.flickr.com/photos/gsfc/6815861366
The sun erupted with one of the largest solar flares of this solar cycle on March 6, 2012 at 7PM ET. This flare was categorized as an X5.4, making it the second largest flare -- after an X6.9 on August 9, 2011 -- since the suns activity segued into a period of relatively low activity called solar minimum in early 2007. The current increase in the number of X-class flares is part of the suns normal 11-year solar cycle, during which activity on the sun ramps up to solar maximum, which is expected to peak in late 2013.
About an hour later, at 8:14 PM ET, March 6, the same region let loose an X1.3 class flare. An X1 is 5 times smaller than an X5 flare.
These X-class flares erupted from an active region named AR 1429 that rotated into view on March 2. Prior to this, the region had already produced numerous M-class and one X-class flare. The region continues to rotate across the front of the sun, so the March 6 flare was more Earthward facing than the previous ones. It triggered a temporary radio blackout on the sunlit side of Earth that interfered with radio navigation and short wave radio.
In association with these flares, the sun also expelled two significant coronal mass ejections (CMEs), which are travelling faster than 600 miles a second and may arrive at Earth in the next few days. In the meantime, the CME associated with the X-class flare from March 4 has dumped solar particles and magnetic fields into Earths atmosphere and distorted Earth's magnetic fields, causing a moderate geomagnetic storm, rated a G2 on a scale from G1 to G5. Such storms happen when the magnetic fields around Earth rapidly change strength and shape. A moderate storm usually causes aurora and may interfere with high frequency radio transmission near the poles. This storm is already dwindling, but the Earth may experience another enhancement if the most recent CMEs are directed toward and impact Earth.
In addition, last nights flares have sent solar particles into Earths atmosphere, producing a moderate solar energetic particle event, also called a solar radiation storm. These particles have been detected by NASAs SOHO and STEREO spacecraft, and NOAAs GOES spacecraft. At the time of writing, this storm is rated an S3 on a scale that goes up to S5. Such storms can interfere with high frequency radio communication.
Besides the August 2011 X-class flare, the last time the sun sent out flares of this magnitude was in 2006. There was an X6.5 on December 6, 2006 and an X9.0 on December 5, 2006. Like the most recent events, those two flares erupted from the same region on the sun, which is a common occurrence.
Credit: NASA/SDO/AIA
NASA image use policy.
NASA Goddard Space Flight Center enables NASAs mission through four scientific endeavors: Earth Science, Heliophysics, Solar System Exploration, and Astrophysics. Goddard plays a leading role in NASAs accomplishments by contributing compelling scientific knowledge to advance the Agencys mission.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gsfc/6961978265/in/photostream
VIDEO
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gsfc/6815861366/in/photostream
tabatha
(18,795 posts)(Reuters) - A strong geomagnetic storm is racing from the Sun toward Earth, and its expected arrival on Thursday could affect power grids, airplane routes and space-based satellite navigation systems, U.S. space weather experts said.
The storm, a big cloud of charged particles flung from the Sun at about 4.5 million miles per hour (7.2 million km per hour), was spawned by a pair of solar flares, scientists said.
This is probably the strongest such event in nearly six years, and is likely more intense than a similar storm in late January, said Joseph Kunches, a space weather specialist at the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
This solar disturbance is a three-stage affair, or as Kunches said in a telephone interview from Boulder, Colorado: "We hit the trifecta."
These are the stages he described, with the first two already affecting Earth:
http://in.reuters.com/article/2012/03/07/solar-storm-idINDEE8260J320120307
FirstLight
(13,366 posts)that video is amazing, wish i could see it in slo-mo...
that was definitely a big 'splash' in the sun's surface... like ripples on a pond. I've watched a few of these before, and this one did look bigger and more powerful too... amazing. we are going to have a wild ride the next year or so as these pick up...thanks for posting!