M4 And X2 Flares Send CME’s Towards Earth

Extreme radiation flash from AR1875 X2 Flare recorded by NASA Solar Dynamics Observatory

Both AR1875 and AR1882 are actively flaring. AR1875 unleashed a powerful X2 late yesterday, but NASA says that the CME is unlikely to cause damage. The x-rays and UV radiation from the flare did hit the top of Earths atmosphere and disturbed radio waves across the United states and Pacific regions. It may have been responsible for a total radio blackout at the poles.

AR1875 has now rotated off the Earth side of the Sun.

AR1882 sent out an M4 flare and the CME from that will hit Earth on October 31st and should give rise to spectacular auroras on Halloween.

NASA has not commented regarding other issues the CME could cause at this point.

AR1882 still has the energy for both M and X class flares. Although the spot is not as large as some we have seen of late, it has the potential to cause major problems as it is directly Earth facing.

A rather small sunspot, AR1884 is growing rapidly as it moves across the Sun disc and it has a delta-class magnetic field that’s ideal for the propagation of X-class flares. Any flares from this spot will be squarely Earth facing within the next couple of days.

There are no coronal holes on the Earth side of the Sun today, and today’s sunspot number is 171.

NOAA estimates the chance of further X-class flares at 25% over the next 24 hours and of M-class as 60% during the same period.