Today one year ago: X9.3 solar flare
Thursday, 6 September 2018 05:27 UTC
It has been many months since we've last seen a strong solar flare or even a decent sunspot region. It is no secret that we are well on our way to solar minimum. However, today exactly one year ago, our Sun looked very different compared to how it looks today. Multiple sunspot regions were visible but by far the most interesting sunspot region was sunspot region 2673. Sunspot region 2673 was on 6 September 2017 one of the most complex sunspot regions that we have seen this solar cycle and it erupted that day with an X9.3 (R3-strong) solar flare which will likely remain the strongest solar flare of the current solar cycle, solar cycle 24.
A quick recap:
On 28 August 2017, Active Region 2673 rotated onto the earth-facing solar disk. At the time it was a simple Alpha region with only one sunspot. On 2 September 2017 it started to grow very rapidly and within 48 hours it became one of the most complex sunspot regions of Solar Cycle 24. Sunspot region 2673 was responsible for 27 M-class solar flares, 4 X-class solar flares and a severe G4 geomagnetic storm. It produced the two strongest solar flares of Solar Cycle 24: X8.2 and X9.3.
Last year we made a video about sunspot region 2673 and the impressive solar flares that it produced. We invite you to watch the video and take a trip down memory lane with us. Enjoy!
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!
Latest news
M9.0 solar flare with earth-directed CME
X2.2 solar flare, SDO outage
Major far side eruption, S1 radiation storm
Latest forum messages
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!
Space weather facts
| Last X-flare | 2024/12/08 | X2.2 |
| Last M-flare | 2024/12/25 | M4.9 |
| Last geomagnetic storm | 2024/12/17 | Kp5+ (G1) |
| Spotless days | |
|---|---|
| Last spotless day | 2022/06/08 |
| Monthly mean Sunspot Number | |
|---|---|
| November 2024 | 152.5 -13.9 |
| December 2024 | 115.2 -37.3 |
| Last 30 days | 120.1 -38.2 |