M9.0 solar flare with earth-directed CME

Monday, 23 December 2024 17:53 UTC

Based on SOHO/LASCO imagery we see a faint asymmetrical full halo coronal mass ejection but a majority of the plasma is heading well south of our planet. As said, we do spot a faint halo outline which does give us hope a portion of the cloud could impact our planet as a... here it comes... as a glancing blow. For sure, a major impact should not be expected but the plasma cloud could spark some enhanced aurora conditions at high latitude locations. Active geomagnetic conditions (Kp4) will be possible with only a slight chance of reaching minor G1 geomagnetic storm conditions when the cloud arrives likely early on Thursday, 26th of December.

Today's M9.0 solar flare from sunspot region 3932 produced a halo coronal mass ejection which could arrive at Earth as a glancing blow. A majority of the ejecta is heading well south of our planet but a minor impact is not to be excluded likely early on Thursday, 26 December. Do… pic.twitter.com/uMDEEtLe9X

— SpaceWeatherLive (@_SpaceWeather_) December 23, 2024