M5.2 solar flare, Active geomagnetic conditions

Monday, 7 November 2022 16:35 UTC

Sunspot region 3141 has a simple Beta magnetic layout. Sunspot regions with such a magnetic layout rarely produce solar flares of this magnitude making the surprise even bigger. It does seem very unlikely that this sunspot region is capable of producing solar flares of a similar magnitude in the future unless it develops a more complex magnetic layout.

A rather unexpected M5.2 solar flare (R2-moderate) erupted this night at 00:11 UTC. Sunspot region 3141 was its source. Our apologies there was no alert for this event. The flare was impulsive and released a minor coronal mass ejection that is not aimed at Earth. pic.twitter.com/Sengj5Z4AN

— SpaceWeatherLive (@_SpaceWeather_) November 7, 2022

Active geomagnetic conditions

We are also currently in a period with active geomagnetic conditions which stands for a Kp of 4. This is caused by the passage of what is likely a small undetected coronal mass ejection. The north-south component (Bz) of the magnetic field is pointing southward fueling auroral activity. The solar wind speed remains low at around 400km/s. We might see minor G1 geomagnetic storm conditions in the near future (Kp5) but stronger (G2 or higher) storm conditions are unlikely.