Strong M-class flares, Coronal hole faces Earth

Saturday, 23 July 2016 17:30 UTC

These events were all concentrated around sunspot region 2567 which already produced two M-class solar flares (M1.0 and M1.2) just two days ago.

The first solar flare peaked today at 02:11 UTC and reached the M5.0 class. It was not eruptive. This solar flare was quickly followed by a solar flare that peaked twice in rapid succesion: M7.6 at 05:16 UTC and M5.5 at 05:31 UTC. This event was associated with a nice coronal mass ejection but it is directed away from our planet. Sunspot region 2567 is already close to the west limb so this shouldn't come as a surprise. Any future eruptions are also likely to be directed away from our planet.

ALERT: Type IV Radio Emission
Begin Time: 2016 Jul 23 0529 UTC

ALERT: Type II Radio Emission
Begin Time: 2016 Jul 23 0529 UTC
Estimated Velocity: 729 km/s

Animation: the coronal mass ejection from this morning's double peaked M7/M5 solar flare as seen by NASA/ESA SOHO LASCO C2.

Apart from sunspot region 2567 and 2565, there are currently no numbered sunspot regions on the earth-facing solar disk. Once these sunspot regions rotate onto the farside of the solar disk we are likely again in for a period of very low (A and B-class) solar activity.

Coronal hole faces Earth

Our advanced space weather warning system also detected an earth-facing coronal hole today. It is rather tiny so only limited influence should be expected from it but it might still be something to keep an eye on in three days from now if you are a high latitude sky watcher.

A coronal hole is facing Earth. Enhanced solar wind could arrive in ~3 days - Follow live on https://t.co/T1Jkf6i4Cb pic.twitter.com/oP14URFeGr

— SpaceWeatherLive (@_SpaceWeather_) 23 juli 2016