M1.2 solar flare from sunspot region 2169
Thursday, 18 September 2014 15:15 UTC
A bit of a surprise today on our nearest star: sunspot region 2169 produced an impulsive M1.2 (R1-minor radio blackout) solar flare that peaked at 08:41 UTC. An unexpected event from a very modest sunspot region. Header image and video: NASA SDO.
The solar flare was associated with an Type II radio burst produced by a shock trough the solar corona with an estimated velocity of 537 km/s. Coronagraph imagery from SOHO/LASCO do not show that there was a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) associated with this event. The GOES-15 satellite was eclipsed by Earth at the time of the flare which is the reason why there was not an automated alert for this event.
ALERT: Type II Radio Emission Begin Time: 2014 Sep 18 0842 UTC Estimated Velocity: 537 km/s
Sunspot region 2169
Sunspot region 2169 is actually a very simple sunspot region and that is why this event came as a surprise. It is unlikely that this sunspot region could produce more solar flares of this magnitude. All the other sunspot regions on the disk are also unremarkable.
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Current data suggests there is a slight possibility for aurora to appear at the following high latitude regions in the near future
Gillam, MB, Whitehorse, YT, Yellowknife, NTFairbanks, AK, Utqiagvik, AK
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