More solar flares from sunspot region 2403

Saturday, 22 August 2015 18:29 UTC

The M1.2 solar flare peaked this morning at 06:49 UTC and was associated with both Type II and IV radio sweeps indicating that a coronal mass ejection might have been launched.

Moderately strong M1.23 solar #flare - Follow live on http://t.co/XHATH0OOfT pic.twitter.com/AQQ6EC7Ydf

— SpaceWeatherLive (@_SpaceWeather_) 22 augustus 2015

ALERT: Type II Radio Emission
Begin Time: 2015 Aug 22 0650 UTC
Estimated Velocity: 1149 km/s

ALERT: Type IV Radio Emission
Begin Time: 2015 Aug 22 0656 UTC

SOHO coronagraph imagery indeed shows us that there was a coronal mass ejection associated with this event. The coronal mass ejection again looks rather faint, and expands to form a partial halo of about 180 degrees. This coronal mass ejection looks very similar to yesterday's event as it also moves fairly slow. While we do think that this plasma cloud could give us a glancing blow due to the partial halo formation of about 180 to 200 degrees, any impact at Earth should just like yesterday's event be minor. Our best bet is to hope for a stronger solar flare which we hope give us a stronger and faster coronal mass ejection. It is unlikely that the events of today and yesterday will leave a noticable trace in the solar wind at Earth. 

Image: SOHO/LASCO C2 animation of the M1.2 coronal mass ejection.

M2.2 solar flare

Today's M2.2 solar flare was a rather impulsive event and did not launch a coronal mass ejection.

Sunspot region 2403

Sunspot region 2403 keep it's Beta-Gamma-Delta magnetic layout but it is showing signs of magnetic separation as the large trailing and leading sunspot clusters drift apart. The group is still in a phase of growth. While some spots disappeared, there was still a very decent amount of growth to be seen in the previous 24 hours. A small delta structure formed among the trailing sunspots which hopefully continues to grow in the next 24 hours. Another low-level (R1) solar flare can not be excluded but higher M-class or X-class solar flares are unlikely at this point due to magnetic seperation and the modest size of the trailing delta sunspot. For solar flares exceding the M5-class we need this group to regain some magnetic complexity.

Visit our sunspot region page for the most actual imagery of the current sunspot regions, including sunspot region 2403. Click here to go to the page.