Categories: Solar Astronomysun

Sun Celebrates Solstice With Flare (and a CME)

The Halo coronal mass ejection (CME) as viewed by the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory coronograph on June 21, 2011. Credit: NASA/SOHO

[/caption]

Late in the evening on June 20, 2011 the Sun emitted a long lasting C7.7 class flare (a relatively small flare) that peaked around 11:25p.m. EDT. The flare was associated with a coronal mass ejection that bloomed off the sun at 11:09p.m. EDT (0412 UT).

Spaceweather.com reports that according to analysts at the Goddard Space Flight Center Space Weather Lab, the CME left the sun traveling 800 km/s and it will reach Earth on June 23rd at 23:22 UT (plus or minus 7 hours). A very cool 3D heliospheric model (below) shows the cloud sweeping past our planet. The impact is expected to trigger a G2-class geomagnetic storm.

High-latitude sky watchers should be alert for auroras on June 23rd and 24. The season favors southern hemisphere observers, where skies are darker for longer due to the winter solstice.

Remove All Ads on Universe Today

Join our Patreon for as little as $3!

Get the ad-free experience for life

These 3D Heliospheric animated models, developed by the Community Coordinated Modeling Center based at the Goddard Space Flight Center, show how the CME cloud might appear as it sweeps past Earth. Credit: NASA/CCMC

Update: SDO posted this video of the event:

Sources: NASA, Spaceweather.com

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/