M-class solar flares from a new sunspot region

Tuesday, 26 October 2021 17:00 UTC

The first of these M-class solar flares took place at 02:47 UTC and peaked at M1.3 (R1-minor). The second M-class solar flare that took place today was an M1.0 solar flare (R1-minor) and peaked at 15:57 UTC. None of these eruptions or any of the C-class solar flares produced coronal mass ejections with an earth-directed component. This is of course due to this region's location on the east limb.

Today's M1.3 solar flare came from a new sunspot region (not AR12889) becoming visible now on the north-east limb. This new region is regularly producing C-class events and looks very active on SDO imagery. It should fully rotate into view within the next 24 to 48 hours. pic.twitter.com/5cPCsiSc4d

— SpaceWeatherLive (@_SpaceWeather_) October 26, 2021

Looking at SDO footage from today we see a really active area with numerous small eruptions throughout the day. Could this be an interesting sunspot region that is going to bring us two exciting weeks as it transits the earth-facing side or will it decay before it has the chance to produce an earth-facing eruption? Time will tell so keep an eye out for any future solar flare alerts on the website and of course the SpaceWeatherLive mobile app.