Coronal mass ejection impact

Sunday, 23 April 2023 17:16 UTC

Coronal mass ejection impact

The coronal mass ejection from the M1.7 solar flare that took place two days ago has arrived at the DSCOVR satellite. We admit... this coronal mass ejection arrived earlier than we expected!

The impact is very clear with the solar wind speed and interplanetary magnetic field data showing a clear jump. This triggered our automated detection system which posted an alert on our Twitter feed and of course our mobile Android and iOS app. The solar wind speed at the time of writing is 500km/s but it is the interplanetary magnetic field that is grabbing our attention the most as the Bt (total strength) jumped to 25nT with a -23nT southward Bz component. These are ingredients for strong G3 geomagnetic storm conditions if these values persist in the hours ahead. Middle latitude sky watchers be alert tonight for possible aurora sightings.

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! Never want to miss out on a space weather event or one of our news articles again? Subscribe to our mailing list, follow us on Twitter and Facebook and download the SpaceWeatherLive app for Android and iOS!

Latest news

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!

100%
Support SpaceWeatherLive with our merchandise
Check out our merchandise

Latest alerts

Get instant alerts!

Space weather facts

Last X-flare2024/11/06X2.39
Last M-flare2024/11/13M1.7
Last geomagnetic storm2024/11/10Kp5+ (G1)
Spotless days
Last spotless day2022/06/08
Monthly mean Sunspot Number
October 2024166.4 +25
November 2024166 -0.4
Last 30 days163.2 +18.4

This day in history*

Solar flares
11999X1.15
21999M8.06
32005M5.58
41999M4.11
52005M3.72
DstG
11960-167G3
21998-109G2
32012-108G2
41989-105
51979-90G1
*since 1994

Social networks