LDE M1.9 Flare From Sunspots 1470 & 1471 Combo

   We just had a LDE (long duration event) M1.9 Solar Flare peaking @ 14:31 UTC Monday May 7. This LDE flare was a result of a two punch combo from sunspots 1470 & 1471 located on the southwest area of the solar disk. CME's are often the result of a LDE event and so will be watching for signs of a CME produced in association with this event.

Check back soon for updates as more data becomes available.

A Closer Look At Sunspot 1476

   Sunspot 1476 has now rotated into view so that were able to get a better look at how complex this new sunspot region is, so we thought now would be a good time to take a closer look. 1476 is a Beta-Gama-Delta sunspot structure that is capable of producing major flares and has a FKC classification.

F: An elongated bipolar sunspot group with penumbra on both ends. Longitudinal extent of penumbra exceeds 15 deg.

K: large, assymetric. Same structure as type 'a', but north-south diameter of penumbra is more than 2.5 degrees. Area, therefore, must be larger or equal than 250 millionths solar hemisphere.

C: compact. The area between the leading and the following ends of the spot group is populated with many strong spots, with at least one interior spot possessing mature peanumbra. The extreme case of

compact distribution has the entire spot group enveloped in one continuous prenumbral area.
Click here to view source

The crew here at My Solar Alerts will be keeping a close eye on sunspot 1476 and will be reporting on any major events this new complex sunspot produces. Stay tuned :)


On a side note, SOHO LASCO C2 and C3 are not updating and we have the answer as to why.

From ESA/SOHO: SOHO went into Emergency Sun Reacquisition (ESR) mode last night (ESR-27). The cause was the same as for ESA-26 in August 2010: false trigger of the Coarse Sun Pointing Attitude Anomaly Detector (CSPAAD). SOHO is now back in Coarse Roll Pointing mode (CRP) and will stay there over the weekend. Early next week we will roll the spacecraft back to normal roll attitude.

M1.4 Flare Around New Sunspot Region 1476 - May 5 2012

Update added @ 01:22 UTC May 5 2012:

2 more M flares

Today at 13:23 UTC a M1.4 solar flare occurred around sunspot region 1476. This new sunspot region is located on the far Northeastern limb of the solar disk and is today rotating into a more Earth directed position.  As this region rotates over the Northeast limb, we can see it has a large leading penumbra making more major flares  from 1476 possible. This will bring a rise in the quiet solar activity we have seen over the last few months. We will be keeping a close eye on the solar activity and update you all with any changes or events that occur

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Update: Region 1476 produced 2 more M flares

A M1.3 flare peaking @ 23:02 UTC May 05 and a M1.1 flare peaking at 01:18 UTC May 06 

You can view the total M & X flare Count at anytime by viewing our Solar Flare Count page HERE  

   We also have a very large Coronal Hole that is rotating the Earth facing side of the sun right now. The solar winds from this Coronal Hole are expected to arrive on or around May 9th  

CME Arrival / Geomagnetic Storm

     The CME that erupted on April 23, 2012 along with the C2.0 solar Flare from plage Region 1461 (N10W19),(link to "Earth Directed Full Halo CME" report), has arrived and is stirring up a NOAA scale G1, geomagnetic storm with solar winds near the 700km/s range. In the first image to the left we can see the drop in the electron flux as measured by the GOES satellites upon  arrival. In the second image we see the deviation in the Boulder, CO magnetometer at the onset of this CME.

Space Weather Message Code: ALTK05
Serial Number: 685
Issue Time: 2012 Apr 26 0245 UTC
ALERT: Geomagnetic K-index of 5
Threshold Reached: 2012 Apr 26 0240 UTC
Synoptic Period: 0000-0300 UTC
Active Warning: Yes
NOAA Scale: G1 - Minor
Potential Impacts: Area of impact primarily poleward of 60 degrees Geomagnetic Latitude.
Induced Currents - Weak power grid fluctuations can occur.
Spacecraft - Minor impact on satellite operations possible.
Aurora - Aurora may be visible at high latitudes, i.e., northern tier of the U.S. such as northern Michigan and Maine.

Continue to check back for updates as the storm progresses.