M6.9 coronal mass ejection, G1 geomagnetic storm watch

Friday, 19 December 2014 22:43 UTC

M6.9 coronal mass ejection, G1 geomagnetic storm watch

SOHO/LASCO coronagraph imagery is now available to analyse the coronal mass ejection that was launched during the M6.9 solar flare from yesterday. Good news: this coronal mass ejection indeed has an earth-directed component. A minor G1 geomagnetic storm watch is in effect for 21 and 22 December.

There are some gaps in the data from SOHO but we can see a faint asymmetrical full halo coronal mass ejection (CME) racing away from the Sun following the M6.9 solar flare. This coronal mass ejection is thus very likely directed towards earth, something which the M8 coronal mass ejection from past Wednesday was not.

The coronal mass ejection has a modest speed and is likely to arrive during the afternoon of 21 December. A minor G1 geomagnetic storm could occur on 21 December or early on 22 December if the direction of the IMF manages to turn southward. Stronger condtitions are unlikely considering the faint halo outline and modest coronal mass ejection speed. Sky watchers in southern New Zealand, Tasmania, Scandinavia, the northern parts of England and the nothern United States should be alert for possible auroral displays in the days ahead if we manage to reach G1 geomagnetic storm conditions around local midnight.

The NOAA SWPC has a watch in place for possible G1 geomagnetic storming conditions on 20 December and G2  geomagnetic storming conditions on 21 December. This is because the NOAA SWPC thinks that the M8.7 solar flare that occured on 17 December has an earth-directed component and that the arrival of these two coronal mass ejections could cause a moderate G2 geomagnetic storm. We concluded that the M8 coronal mass ejection very likely did not had an earth-directed component and consider G2 geomagnetic storm conditions unlikely.

Images: ESA/NASA SOHO.

Any mentioned solar flare in this article has a scaling factor applied by the Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC), the reported solar flares are 42% smaller than for the science quality data. The scaling factor has been removed from our archived solar flare data to reflect the true physical units.

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-flare2024/10/31X2.0
Last M-flare2024/11/05M2.6
Last geomagnetic storm2024/10/12Kp5 (G1)
Spotless days
Last spotless day2022/06/08
Monthly mean Sunspot Number
September 2024141.4 -74.1
November 2024215.8 +74.4
Last 30 days161.1 +7.2

This day in history*

Solar flares
12013X4.93
21998X1.21
32014X1.14
42003M7.6
52004M5.72
DstG
12023-172G3
21991-92G2
31986-74G1
41959-73G1
51993-71G1
*since 1994

Social networks