M9.0 solar flare with earth-directed CME
Monday, 23 December 2024 17:53 UTC
Sunspot region 3932 produced an M9.0 (R2-moderate) solar flare today which peaked at 11:12 UTC. The solar flare was fairly impulsive but it was associated with a Type II radio emission indicating the possible launch of a coronal mass ejection something which we can confirm now thanks to SOHO/LASCO coronagraph imagery.
Based on SOHO/LASCO imagery we see a faint asymmetrical full halo coronal mass ejection but a majority of the plasma is heading well south of our planet. As said, we do spot a faint halo outline which does give us hope a portion of the cloud could impact our planet as a... here it comes... as a glancing blow. For sure, a major impact should not be expected but the plasma cloud could spark some enhanced aurora conditions at high latitude locations. Active geomagnetic conditions (Kp4) will be possible with only a slight chance of reaching minor G1 geomagnetic storm conditions when the cloud arrives likely early on Thursday, 26th of December.
Today's M9.0 solar flare from sunspot region 3932 produced a halo coronal mass ejection which could arrive at Earth as a glancing blow. A majority of the ejecta is heading well south of our planet but a minor impact is not to be excluded likely early on Thursday, 26 December. Do… pic.twitter.com/uMDEEtLe9X
— SpaceWeatherLive (@_SpaceWeather_) December 23, 2024
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 | 2024/12/23 | M8.9 |
| 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 | 106.6 -45.9 |
| Last 30 days | 114.4 -44.3 |