X8.7 solar flare
Tuesday, 14 May 2024 19:42 UTC
What a way to sign off! Sunspot region 3664 (R3-strong) is now on the west limb and waves goodbye by producing the largest solar flare of Solar Cycle 25 which peaked at X8.7! Wow! There isn't any coronagraph imagery available from SOHO yet, but we do know the solar flare was eruptive but based on coronagraph imagery from STEREO A, the resulting coronal mass ejection is likely not aimed at Earth.
Sunspot region 3664 will now slowly disappear behind the west limb and transit the far side of the Sun and with that cement itself in the history books for being the source of the first Extreme G5 geomagnetic storm since 2003. If it survives the journey around the far side of the solar disk, it will appear on the east limb (as seen from Earth) in about two weeks from now.
While the X8.7 solar flare was declining in strength, there was yet another solar flare worth noting. An M4.4 solar flare (R1-minor) which peaked at 17:38 UTC. This solar flare came from newly assigned sunspot region 3682 and was actually high eruptive. Again we have no SOHO imagery but it also does not look to be aimed at Earth based on the low resolution STEREO imagery. Sunspot region 3682 looks to consist mostly of faculae but still, seems like we need to keep an eye on this region in the coming days.
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
Major far side eruption, S1 radiation storm
Coronal hole faces Earth
X2.0 solar flare
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 | 2024/11/06 | X2.39 |
| Last M-flare | 2024/11/22 | M1.6 |
| Last geomagnetic storm | 2024/11/10 | Kp5+ (G1) |
| Spotless days | |
|---|---|
| Last spotless day | 2022/06/08 |
| Monthly mean Sunspot Number | |
|---|---|
| October 2024 | 166.4 +25 |
| November 2024 | 142.9 -23.5 |
| Last 30 days | 155.8 +4.5 |