M4.2 solar flare with earth-directed CME

Wednesday, 10 May 2023 13:45 UTC

To be precise, we counted 18 M-class solar flares since the beginning of this month. Some produced coronal mass ejections and some not. Today we are going to focus on a solar flare that took place yesterday which peaked at 18:58 UTC. It was an M4.2 solar flare from sunspot region 3296. This solar flare is not the strongest M-class solar flare that we have seen the past few days but it is interesting because it was highly eruptive. The long duration event was associated with Type II and IV radio sweeps and launched an asymmetrical full halo coronal mass ejection as seen in the animation below captured by SOHO/LASCO. While most of the ejecta is heading to the north-west, we think it is very likely that this plasma cloud will arrive at Earth late on May 11. Moderate G2 geomagnetic storm conditions will be possible after the plasma cloud arrives.

Yesterday's M4.2 flare from sunspot region 3296 launched an asymmetrical full halo coronal mass ejection as seen here by SOHO/LASCO.

While most of the ejecta is heading to the north-west, we think it is very likely that this plasma cloud will arrive at Earth late on May 11. pic.twitter.com/Yo3FsPdUPG

— SpaceWeatherLive (@_SpaceWeather_) May 10, 2023