M6.9 coronal mass ejection arrival

Sunday, 21 December 2014 19:13 UTC

M6.9 coronal mass ejection arrival

The M6.9 coronal mass ejection has arrived at the ACE satellite. First signs are looking promising for enhanced auroral conditions as the direction of the IMF is cooperating. It is currently directed southward and occasionally dipping below -10nT. A minor G1 geomagnetic storm watch remains in effect as the solar wind and IMF parameters are promising.

The impact isn't much stronger or weaker than expected. The solar wind speed rose to about 440km/s during the impact and the directon of the IMF remained southward, with a total strength (Bt) of about 15nT. Below the stats as they were at the time of posting this article.

Sky watchers from Scotland, Scandinavia, Finland and the upper United States should remain alert in the hours ahead for visible aurora if we reach G1 storm conditions around local midnight.

You can follow the impact live on our auroral activity page.

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.

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