C4.0 solar flare
Monday, 14 December 2020 19:09 UTC
Our Sun surprised us today! After a period of higher solar activity we are currently in a period with fewer sunspots and strong solar flares seemed very unlikely today. However, our Sun woke up this afternoon and produced a C4.0 solar flare peaked today at 14:37 UTC. A C4 solar flare doesn't sound so spectacular but there are two reasons why this solar flare deserves your attention.
First of all it was tiny sunspot region 2792 which was the source of this eruption. Not at all a region which you'd expect C-class activity from! The second reason is that this C4 solar flare was eruptive!
The Type II Radio Emission issued at 14:37 UTC is associated with a C4.0 solar flare from sunspot region 2792. A coronal mass ejection was likely launched into space but should be directed away from Earth. pic.twitter.com/duVoUZ3Fks
— SpaceWeatherLive (@_SpaceWeather_) December 14, 2020
STEREO Ahead confirms the launch of a coronal mass ejection. There are no earth-facing coronagraph imagery from SOHO available right now but considering the location of sunspot region 2792 we do not expect an earth-facing component. Nonetheless very interesting to see an eruptive C-class event from such a tiny sunspot region.
Thank you for reading this article! Did you have any trouble with the technical terms used in this article? Our help section is the place to be where you can find in-depth articles, a FAQ and a list with common abbreviations. Still puzzled? Just post on our forum where we will help you the best we can!
Latest news
Major far side eruption, S1 radiation storm
Coronal hole faces Earth
X2.0 solar flare
Latest forum messages
Support SpaceWeatherLive.com!
A lot of people come to SpaceWeatherLive to follow the Sun's activity or if there is aurora to be seen, but with more traffic comes higher server costs. Consider a donation if you enjoy SpaceWeatherLive so we can keep the website online!
Space weather facts
| Last X-flare | 2024/11/06 | X2.39 |
| Last M-flare | 2024/11/22 | M1.0 |
| Last geomagnetic storm | 2024/11/10 | Kp5+ (G1) |
| Spotless days | |
|---|---|
| Last spotless day | 2022/06/08 |
| Monthly mean Sunspot Number | |
|---|---|
| October 2024 | 166.4 +25 |
| November 2024 | 144.1 -22.3 |
| Last 30 days | 158 +10.7 |