X2.2 solar flare, SDO outage

Sunday, 8 December 2024 14:12 UTC

The solar flare was impulsive but a Type II radio emission was associated with the event indicating a possible coronal mass ejection (CME) being released into space. This is indeed the case as we can see on the SOHO/LASCO coronagraph imagery below but the CME is not impressive and aimed towards the west. It is not earth-directed.

Today's surprise X2.2 solar flare came from sunspot region 3912. It peaked at 09:06 UTC and was impulsive. It did produce a minor coronal mass ejection but it is heading west and is thus not aimed at our planet. pic.twitter.com/XvTiwt9isF

— SpaceWeatherLive (@_SpaceWeather_) December 8, 2024

SDO data outage

As a lot of you noticed, there has been ongoing issues with the real time data delivery of NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory which means we had to resort to alternative sources. This is because a cooling water line burst in the Stanford building housing the SDO Joint Science Operations Center which provides real time SDO imagery. The Joint Science Operations Center reports that the damage is extensive and services will not resume until 2025.