X4.5 solar flare with a fast coronal mass ejection

Saturday, 14 September 2024 22:22 UTC

X4.5 solar flare with a fast coronal mass ejection

Sunspot region 3825 which is close to the east limb and slowly rotating into an earth-facing position has produced a long-duration X4.5 class solar flare (R3-strong) today that peaked at 15:29 UTC. This is the fifth largest solar flare of the current Solar Cycle.

The solar flare was highly eruptive. A fast coronal mass ejection was launched and the bulk of it is heading east of our planet, but there is a faint full halo outline visible on LASCO coronagraph imagery. We expect a glancing blow during the second half of 16 September (Monday) with solar wind speeds between 700km/s and 800km/s at arrival. A strong G3 geomagnetic storm watch is in effect on Monday, 16 September.

This is the same region which produced a couple of major coronal mass ejections in the far side so it looks like there is more gas in the tank for this region. It will rotate into an even more favorable earth-facing position in the days ahead. Keep an eye on this Active Region!

Thank you for reading this article! Did you have any trouble with the technical terms used in this article? Our help section is the place to be where you can find in-depth articles, a FAQ and a list with common abbreviations. Still puzzled? Just post on our forum where we will help you the best we can! Never want to miss out on a space weather event or one of our news articles again? Subscribe to our mailing list, follow us on Twitter and Facebook and download the SpaceWeatherLive app for Android and iOS!

Latest news

Support SpaceWeatherLive.com!

A lot of people come to SpaceWeatherLive to follow the Sun's activity or if there is aurora to be seen, but with more traffic comes higher server costs. Consider a donation if you enjoy SpaceWeatherLive so we can keep the website online!

100%
Support SpaceWeatherLive with our merchandise
Check out our merchandise

Latest alerts

Get instant alerts!

Space weather facts

Last X-flare2024/10/09X1.4
Last M-flare2024/10/09M7.6
Last geomagnetic storm2024/10/08Kp7+ (G3)
Spotless days
Last spotless day2022/06/08
Monthly mean Sunspot Number
September 2024141.4 -74.1
October 2024175 +33.6
Last 30 days148.9 -28.3

This day in history*

Solar flares
12022M2.4
22023M2.3
32023M1.61
42012M1.45
51998M1.13
DstG
11988-156G4
21990-133G2
31997-92G2
41960-89
51967-77G1
*since 1994

Social networks