M-FLARE AND RADIATION STORM
Posted by
JAC on 6/7/2011, 4:36 pm
This morning around 0641 UT, magnetic fields above sunspot complex 1226-1227 became unstable and erupted.
The blast produced an M2-class solar flare, an S1-class radiation storm, and a massive CME.
A recording of the blast from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory ranks as one of the most beautiful and dramatic movies of the SDO era:
http://www.spaceweather.com/swpod2011/07jun11/mflare.mov
A video with commentary from solar physicist C. Alex Young of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center shows material splashing back to the stellar surface.
"I've never seen material released this way before," he says in the video.
"It looks like someone kicked a clod of dirt in the air--an amazing, amazing event."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_3u_0NN7OM&feature=youtu.be
Coronagraphs onboard the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) are still monitoring the CME as it billows away from the sun.
Watch the cloud expand.
http://www.spaceweather.com/swpod2011/07jun11/cme_c3.gif
The speckles are caused by energetic charged particles hitting the camera's CCD array.
This is what we mean by a "radiation storm"; the particles were accelerated by the explosion and are now peppering Earth-orbiting satellites and spacecraft like SOHO.
Although the blast was not squarely Earth-directed, it will affect our planet.
The CME should deliver a glancing blow to Earth's magnetic field during the late hours of June 8th or June 9th.
High-latitude sky watchers should be alert for auroras when the CME arrives.
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In this thread:
M2.5 X-Ray Flare. High Proton Flux Warning -
JAC,
6/7/2011, 5:18 am- Max F2 absorption over Indonesia Fault - JAC, 6/8/2011, 3:05 pm
- Deep Cascadia - JAC, 6/8/2011, 2:35 pm
- Quakes and Solar Activity - JAC, 6/8/2011, 12:01 pm
- Busiest sunspot cycle in years threatens to disrupt Earth communications and power - JAC, 6/8/2011, 9:26 am
- M-FLARE AND RADIATION STORM - JAC, 6/7/2011, 4:36 pm
- Aurora being activated - JAC, 6/7/2011, 4:23 pm
- D-Region Absorption going Red - JAC, 6/7/2011, 1:15 pm
- Geomagnetic Sudden Impulse Warning Issued - JAC, 6/7/2011, 6:19 am
- CME - JAC, 6/7/2011, 5:53 am
- Huge Eruption at Region 11226 - JAC, 6/7/2011, 5:41 am
- HAIR-RAISING SOLAR ACTIVITY - JAC, 6/7/2011, 5:25 am
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