C4.0 solar flare
Monday, 14 December 2020 19:09 UTC
Our Sun surprised us today! After a period of higher solar activity we are currently in a period with fewer sunspots and strong solar flares seemed very unlikely today. However, our Sun woke up this afternoon and produced a C4.0 solar flare peaked today at 14:37 UTC. A C4 solar flare doesn't sound so spectacular but there are two reasons why this solar flare deserves your attention.
First of all it was tiny sunspot region 2792 which was the source of this eruption. Not at all a region which you'd expect C-class activity from! The second reason is that this C4 solar flare was eruptive!
The Type II Radio Emission issued at 14:37 UTC is associated with a C4.0 solar flare from sunspot region 2792. A coronal mass ejection was likely launched into space but should be directed away from Earth. pic.twitter.com/duVoUZ3Fks
— SpaceWeatherLive (@_SpaceWeather_) December 14, 2020
STEREO Ahead confirms the launch of a coronal mass ejection. There are no earth-facing coronagraph imagery from SOHO available right now but considering the location of sunspot region 2792 we do not expect an earth-facing component. Nonetheless very interesting to see an eruptive C-class event from such a tiny sunspot region.
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