Categories: Missionssun

Weekend Aurora Alert: The Sun Lets Loose an Earth-Directed CME

The Solar Dynamics Observatory captured this view as the Sun let loose with its biggest solar flare of the year so far. It’s not a real big one — a mid-level flare classified as an M6.5 – but an associated coronal mass ejection is heading towards Earth and could spur some nice auroae by this weekend. Spaceweather.com predicts the expanding cloud (see animation below) will probably deliver a glancing blow to Earth’s magnetic field late on April 12th or more likely April 13th. The NOAA Space Prediction Center forecasts this event to cause moderate (G2) Geomagnetic Storm activity, and predicts geomagnetic activity to start in the mid to latter part (UTC) of April 13. They add that the source region is still potent and well-positioned for more geoeffective activity in the next few days.

The magnetic field of sunspot AR1719 erupted on April 11th at 0716 UT, producing an M6-class solar flare. Coronagraph images from the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory show a CME emerging from the blast site of the M6.5 solar flare. Credit: NASA

See this NASA page for info on solar flares, CMEs, and more.

NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory captured this image of an M6.5 class flare at 3:16 am EDT on April 11, 2013. This image shows a combination of light in wavelengths of 131 and 171 Angstroms. Credit: NASA/SDO.
Nancy Atkinson

Nancy has been with Universe Today since 2004, and has published over 6,000 articles on space exploration, astronomy, science and technology. She is the author of two books: "Eight Years to the Moon: the History of the Apollo Missions," (2019) which shares the stories of 60 engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make landing on the Moon possible; and "Incredible Stories from Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos" (2016) tells the stories of those who work on NASA's robotic missions to explore the Solar System and beyond. Follow Nancy on Twitter at https://twitter.com/Nancy_A and and Instagram at and https://www.instagram.com/nancyatkinson_ut/

Recent Posts

New Horizons is Funded Through the Decade. Enough to Explore Another Kuiper Belt Object

The ongoing saga of the New Horizons mission—will it get truncated and its science team…

14 hours ago

It's Confirmed. M87's Black Hole is Actually Spinning

The supermassive black hole at the heart of M87 was the target of the Event…

21 hours ago

What’s the Link Between Gamma Ray Bursts and Supernovae? It Might Be Binary Stars

Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are some of the most violent events in the universe. Some have…

2 days ago

Astronomers are Working to Put a Radio Telescope on the Far Side of the Moon by 2025

Technicians at Berkeley Lab are building an experiment that will conduct radio astronomy on the…

2 days ago

Supernovae Struck the Earth 3 Million and 7 Million Years Ago

A recent study examines how the Earth was hit by blasts from supernovae (plural form…

2 days ago

The World's Largest Radio Telescope has Scanned Barnard's Star for Extraterrestrial Signals

Barnard's Star is the second closest star system to Earth, at a distance of 5.96…

2 days ago