Sun activity: X-flare! BAM!

-

 

Sun activity: X-flare! BAM!


March 30, 2022
Sun activity: Roiling purple surface with a bright spot suddenly shining out.
The X-flare from AR2975 happened at 17:37 UTC on March 30, 2022. In this image, you can see the flash in the upper right. Image via SDO and LMSAL SDO image service.

March 30: X-flare!

Sunspot AR2975 blasted out an X1.38 flare just now (at 17:37 UTC on March 30, 2022). It created an R3 level radio blackout over the Americas. For those who don’t know, heliophysicists use a classification system that divides solar flares according to their strength. The smallest ones are A-class, followed by B, C, M … and finally X. So X-flares are the strongest solar flares.

The source of the March 30 X-flare – sunspot AR2975 – has already sent at least two coronal mass ejections (CMEs) toward Earth this week (see below).

Generally speaking, if X-flares are Earth-directed, they and their associated CMEs can create strong geomagnetic storms that can harm satellites in Earth orbit, communications systems, and power grids. It’s too early to tell whether the March 30 X-flare from AR2975 also sent a CME toward Earth. But we do know that NOAA reported a type II radio burst that is associated with shock waves in the sun’s corona as well as CMEs.

We’ll let you know when we hear more.

Solar flare
X Solar flare on March 30, 2022 via SDO.

Earlier on March 30: Geomagnetic storm watch

Activity on the sun earlier this week prompted NOAA to issue a watch for a strong geomagnetic storm. NOAA is now projecting strong storms with a G-3 classification. That means we might get auroras as far south as Illinois, New York and Oregon. Updated watch times suggest the “cannibal CME” from two combined storms will strike at 0 UTC on Thursday, March 31. That is 7 p.m. CDT on Wednesday, March 30, for us in the Americas.

Aurora alert!

Today’s sun

Large yellow sphere with small dark spots.
The sun on March 30, 2022, at 1:45 UTC. Image via NASA SDO. View this image with labels, via SpaceWeather.com. Today’s sun is posted by Armando Caussade .

March 29: NOAA models show ‘cannibal’ CME

NOAA computer modeling suggests that the two CMEs headed for Earth – from the high level of activity on the sun earlier this week – will combine, creating what is called a cannibal CME (one CME “eats” the other). The cannibal CME is expected to strike Earth’s magnetic field around 3 UTC on March 31 (10 p.m. CDT on March 30).

March 28: M-flares and C-flares

Active sun! Sunspot AR2975 produced multiple M-class flares on March 28, 2022. The same sunspot also produced severals C-class flare that verged on M status, at C9.8.

The biggest M-flare came earlier in the day, at 11:30 UTC. The solar flare peaked at M4.1. This eruption produced an R1 level shortwave radio blackout over Africa. NOAA reported a burst of radio waves indicating a possible fast CME. There is also a sudden increase in solar protons. The protons reached the level of an S1 proton storm alert from NOAA. While the flare created a radio blackout at the peak of the flare, the proton event creates a delayed radio blackout over Earth’s poles. The event also produced a solar tsunami (EIT wave). Stay tuned for more updates on how this will affect Earth.

Part of a globe (the sun) in teal with bright patch from a solar flare
The bright patch in this image shows one of the March 28, 2022, M-class flares from sunspot region AR2975. Image via SDO.

Recent sun and aurora images from EarthSky’s community

Rising sun aligned beautifully with a tower crane at a distance.
View at EarthSky Community Photos | Soumyadeep Mukherjee in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India, captured this filtered view of the sun on March 28, 2022, and wrote “Today, I got an opportunity to image the sunrise after a long time. The rising sun aligned beautifully with a tower crane at a distance, making it an interesting composition. The large sunspot region AR12976 along with AR12975 are visible in the image along with AR12978 at the edge of the solar disk.” Thank you, Soumyadeep!
Six shots of a sunspot with white tendrils on the middle images.
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Mario Rana in Hampton, Virginia, took this image on March 28, 2022 of a sunspot that produced multiple strong flares. Mario wrote: “I happened to catch a flare from active region AR2975 as it happened! These images cover a period of about 34 minutes.” Fantastic! Thank you, Mario!
A section of a large yellow sphere with small dark spots.
View at EarthSky Community Photos | William Smith in Venice, Florida, captured this filtered close-up of the sun on March 27, 2022, and wrote “I was setting up for an evening astrophotography session and wanted to test my focus. Since the sun was still up, I put the filter on and swung over to it. I had not planned on taking any sun photos but the sunspots caught my eye. After taking a few images, I noticed the ‘happy face’ spot.” Thank you, William!
Close-up of the sun, seen as a large yellow sphere with a mottled surface.
View at EarthSky Community Photos | Michael Teoh at Heng Ee Observatory in Penang, Malaysia, captured this filtered close-up of the sun on March 27, 2022, and wrote “A second clear morning in a row with better condition than yesterday. The large active region AR2976 is rotating away from the limb, getting better positioned for imaging.” Thank you, Michael!
Green luminous curtains in a dark sky over an icy landscape.
View at EarthSky Community Photos | Joanne Richardson who was located outside of Fairbanks, Alaska, captured this bright aurora on March 27, 2022, and wrote “I love photographing the aurora. I try to view them yearly, whether it is Iceland, Finland, Canada or Alaska. I shot this at an ISO of 2000 at 12mm, F2.8 @ 6 seconds.” Thank you, Joanne!

Bottom line: Sunspot AR2975 blasted out an X1.38 flare at 17:37 UTC on March 30, 2022. It created an R3 level radio blackout over the Americas. Too early to tell if there’s an associated CME, which has the potential to harm power grids and satellites in Earth orbit.

 

Comments

Post a Comment

please follow, like and comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Philadelphia Experiment – What’s the Real Story?

-
Image
  The Philadelphia Experiment – What’s the Real Story? The Philadelphia Experiment is an event during 1943 in which the United States Navy purportedly teleported a Navy destroyer escort, the USS Eldridge (DE 173), from Philadelphia to Norfolk. They also made it invisible – as in, to the naked eye. Most people believe the incident was either a hoax or the ravings of a lunatic, however, some still believe that it may have really occurred and that there is a large conspiracy to cover it up. What is interesting is that the tale of the Philadelphia Experiment has made it into the annals of American legend. So, what’s the real story? USS Eldridge. Source: Wikimedia Commons. The Philadelphia Experiment The story of the Philadelphia Experiment begins in October of 1943 in Norfolk, Virginia, though the story did not turn up until more than ten years later. Purportedly, some men aboard the SS Andrew Furuseth saw a ship spontaneously appear in the water in Norfolk on October 28. The story goe...
Read more

The Pentagon Just Confirmed the First-Ever Interstellar Visitor to Earth

-
Image
  ©   Pete Saloutos - Getty Images A meteor that crashed into the South Pacific in 2014 was recently confirmed to have origins outside our Solar System. T he United States Space Command (USSC) has confirmed a 2014 study from a team of astronomers, noting that government sensors did, in fact, detect a meteor on Earth that originated outside our Solar System. The rock is only the third   interstellar   object ever detected in our system, and the first to enter our atmosphere. After scientists publish their research on this   meteoric   discovery, they may be able to learn more about its contents. Government   sensors   on the hunt for fireballs plunging toward Earth have so far logged about 1,000 meteors and   asteroids . But only one of them can boast that it traveled through our atmosphere from outside our own Solar System. This fireball, which shot through our atmosphere over Papua New Guinea in 2014, was no ordinary space rock—it was actual...
Read more

A rocket part could collide with the moon in the next few weeks

-
Image
  A rocket part could collide with the moon in the next few weeks By Katie Hunt, CNN - 4h ago Follow React 5 Comments | 14 Listen to this article A rogue rocket booster could collide with the moon in the next few weeks, according to space experts, an event that could leave a crater on the far side of the moon. © Laurent Emmanuel/AFP/Getty Images A photo taken on May 13, 2019, shows a view of the moon from Cannes, southern France. The SpaceX Falcon rocket stage was used in 2015 to launch the  US Deep Space Climate Observatory, or DSCOVR  and has been floating around in the outer part of the Earth-moon system ever since. Bill Gray, an independent researcher focused on orbital dynamics who was the first to publicize the imminent collision, said by his calculations the rocket part would hit the moon a bit north of its equator "within a minute" of 7.26 a.m. ET on March 4. The way the object is moving makes it difficult to pinpoint the exact location, he added, a...
Read more