M1.0 solar flare from sunspot region 2615

Tuesday, 29 November 2016 19:45 UTC

It was only a very impulsive M1.0 solar flare that peaked at 17:23 UTC so nothing too exciting but the last time we've had an M-class solar flare was on 7 August 2016... so yeah, it was about time! Source of this event was newly numbered sunspot region 2615 on the south-eastern quadrant of our star. A coronal mass ejection was not launched.

Moderately strong M1.03 solar #flare - Follow live on https://t.co/T1Jkf60tdB pic.twitter.com/IMEtDPBcd9

— SpaceWeatherLive (@_SpaceWeather_) 29 november 2016

A quick look at sunspot region 2615 reveals that it actually is a fairly small sunspot group with only a few spots and a rather unimpressive Beta magnetic layout. Despite the small size of this sunspot region, its been remarkably active today with a few C-class flare and this M1 event. More M-class solar flares seem unlikely but let's hope we're wrong!