M6.7 coronal mass ejection
Monday, 18 April 2016 11:46 UTC
Today at 00:29 UTC we saw a surprise M6.7 solar flare from sunspot region 2529. It was an eruptive event and a coronal mass ejection was launched into space. Be sure to read the news article that we released earlier today for more information.
We had to wait a little while for additional SOHO/LASCO coronagraph imagery but there is enough footage available now to draw a conclusion.
Sunspot region 2529 erupted near the west limb and this means we knew right away that most (if not all) of the plasma cloud would be directed away from Earth. Now that we have enough SOHO imagery we have to conclude that it is indeed highly unlikely that this plasma cloud will interact with Earth. We can clearly see how the cloud of solar plasma moves well west and ahead of Earth's orbit and there are no signs of a halo outline.
Animation: SOHO/LASCO C2 animation showing the coronal mass ejection released during today's M6.7 solar flare.
Animation: SOHO/LASCO C3 animation showing the coronal mass ejection released during today's M6.7 solar flare.
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