Sunspot 1444 Growing Fast

  We are seeing some rapid growth today within Sunspot Rregion 1444 located in the northeast region of the solar disk. Region 1444 is yet another reversed polarity sunspot located in the northern hemisphere of the solar disk. We are watching this Region for continued growth as it moves into a more Earth facing position.

  
   The last reversed polarity sunspot we saw was Sunspot Region 1429 (also located in the northern hemisphere) that started its earth facing activity with a M3.3 flare on March 2, 2012 . To the left, we can see old Region 1429 as it appears on the STEREO Behind EUVI 195 image from today. 1429 has survived its transit on the backside of the Sun, and should be coming back into an Earth facing position around March 28th-30th.
You can view all reports we did on sunspot region 1429 Here:
http://mysolaralerts.blogspot.com/search?q=1429&max-results=20&by-date=true


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M1.0 Flare With GOES 15 Back Online

   GOES 15 is working again as of 16:00 UTC today. Just a few hours into the Xray monitor being back in business, we have a "registered" M1.0 flare peaking at 19:40 UTC. This solar flare came from old sunspot region 1431 as it rotates back into a earth facing direction in the far southeast limb.

2012-03-23 16:50 UTC  SWPC GOES Data Again Available- Just in: GOES 15 xray, particle and magnetometer data are now again accessible as of about 1600 UTC (noon EDT) today. Imagery should be available again at approximately 1900 UTC.

http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/

 

It's anyones guess on how many larger flares we have missed while the monitor was down.

Solar Activity Update - CME Impact + M1.8 Flare

   At 13:40 UTC March 15th a geomagnetic sudden impulse was detected indicating that the CME we were expecting today has arrived. This CME was produced in association with a M7.9 solar flare from Sunspot Region 1429 on March 13, 2012. Solar winds reaching as high as 770.5 km/s and a proton density as high as 4.7 p/cc have been picked up at the ACE satellite. With the high wind speed and the Bz tilted south (-) this CME impact is stiring up a G1-Kp5 geomagnetic storm at this time.

View original report here:

 http://mysolaralerts.blogspot.com/2012/03/strong-m79-flare-from-region-1429-march.html

Check back often for further updates and alerts on this event.

All updates will be added to the bottom of this report.

ACE Readings @ 14:49 UTC.
Thursday March 15, 2012:
Solar Wind: 697.7 km/sec
Density: 3.5 protons/cc
Bz: -7.2
By: -3.6

Space Weather Message Code: SUMSUD
Serial Number: 149
Issue Time: 2012 Mar 15 1314 UTC

SUMMARY: Geomagnetic Sudden Impulse
Observed: 2012 Mar 15 1309 UTC
Deviation: 27 nT
Station: Boulder

Strong M7.9 Flare from Region 1429 - March 13, 2012

   A strong LDE Solar Flare of M7.9 peaking at 17:41 UTC has occurred around Sunspot Region 1429. There has been a slow drop in the Xray flux, indicating that there was a CME produced in association with this flare.
Update: there was a CME produced in association with this flare, see below for details.

Check back often for further updates and alerts on this event.

All updates will be added to the bottom of this report.

   Region 1429 on 60^o - 70^o longitude right now. With this CME that was produced today from 1429, this degree of longitude could cause a connection between the CME and Earth. Read all about this 60^o west longitude connection here
http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2005/10jun_newstorm/

   Here was can see there was a sharp rise in the proton flux immediately following the M7.9 Flare. This is another indication of a CME produced in association with this flare event

     The UMA proton flux forecaster model shown here to the left indicates that Earth is currently magnetically connected to Sunspot Region 1429, and that a SEP event is in progress.  This system is able to predict the onset and intensity of the first hours of well connected Solar Proton (SEP) events.  This forecaster identifies if there is a magnetic connection between the associated flare and the Earth, by correlating X-ray and differential proton data at 1 AU.