M4.44 solar flare

Sunday, 29 November 2020 17:49 UTC

It became quickly apparent that this long duration solar flare would be eruptive. A huge amount of coronal dimming was observed along with a Type II Radio Emission which are two excellent signs that a coronal mass ejection was launched during the event.

Today's M4.4 solar flare came from a sunspot region behind the south-east limb. We see a huge amount of coronal dimming and a large coronal mass ejection became visible on STEREO A. The eruption is however aimed away from Earth keep that in mind. Welcome Solar Cycle 25! pic.twitter.com/9oGkbrtH0X

— SpaceWeatherLive (@_SpaceWeather_) November 29, 2020

Another look at the coronal mass ejection launched by the M4.4 flare earlier today. These images come from SOHO which is a space craft that looks at CMEs from earth's point of view. A fast and impressive CME can be seen but as mentioned earlier, it is not directed towards Earth. pic.twitter.com/mVvOGebuon

— SpaceWeatherLive (@_SpaceWeather_) November 29, 2020

Indeed, a large and fast coronal mass ejection became visible on both the coronagraph imagery from SOHO and STEREO A. The velocity of this coronal mass ejection is estimated to be around 1.400km/s which is fast. Due to the location of the eruption, the plasma cloud is aimed away from Earth and an impact at our planet should not be expected.

Our Sun was in a deep slumber back in November 2019 but this month we have seen a really remarkable uptick in solar activity considering solar minimum was less than 1 year ago. What does this mean for the coming years? Nobody knows... but we can't wait to find out!