Major X2.8 solar flare
Thursday, 14 December 2023 17:34 UTC
A major X2.87 (R3-strong) solar flare just peaked at 17:02 UTC. Sunspot region 3514 is the source of the eruption.
This sunspot region is starting to rotate away towards the west limb and flew under the radar a bit but it has rapidly developed into a complex Beta-Gamma-Delta magnetic layout which as we see right now harbors energy for spectacular X-class solar flares. As a matter of fact this is the strong solar flare of the current Solar Cycle thus far! The last time we had a stronger solar flare was back in 2017!
Type II and IV radio sweeps have been reported which indicates the solar flare likely produced a coronal mass ejection but it is still too early to tell how large the coronal mass ejection is and if it has an earth-directed component. Keep your eyes on this website, our app and our socials as we will keep you up to date whenever there is more news!
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Space weather facts
| Last X-flare | 2024/12/08 | X2.2 |
| Last M-flare | 2024/12/25 | M4.9 |
| Last geomagnetic storm | 2024/12/17 | Kp5+ (G1) |
| Spotless days | |
|---|---|
| Last spotless day | 2022/06/08 |
| Monthly mean Sunspot Number | |
|---|---|
| November 2024 | 152.5 -13.9 |
| December 2024 | 115.2 -37.3 |
| Last 30 days | 120.1 -38.2 |