CME impact, M1.5 solar flare

Sunday, 20 September 2015 09:23 UTC

The solar wind speed jumped to 550km/s but more importantly, the direction of the IMF (Bz) is mostly southward. The direction of the IMF (Bz) has dipped as low as -20nT and the NOAA SWPC reported that the strong G3 geomagnetic storm threshold (Kp7) was reached but the Wing-Kp index hasn't gone beyond Kp6- which stands for moderate G2 geomagnetic stroming conditions. Aurora displays might be visible right now from Victoria and Tasmania in Australia. Most of New Zealand and also the upper United States might also be able to see some aurora. We will post another update for Europe if the conditions remain favourable in the hours ahead.

M-class solar flare

A new sunspot region on the east limb was the source of an M1.5 (R1-minor) solar flare this morning that peaked at 05:03 UTC. There aren't many spots visible just yet so we will not be able to analyse this sunspot region right away but it did recieve a sunspot number: 2420. We will keep an eye on this sunspot region in the days ahead to see how complex it really is.

Moderately strong M1.54 solar #flare - Follow live on http://t.co/XHATH0OOfT pic.twitter.com/0EIrDkZs90

— SpaceWeatherLive (@_SpaceWeather_) 20 september 2015