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Major Solar Flare Erupts from the Sun
by Tim Ballisty, weather.com Meteorologist
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Video: Aurora borealis from above
What happened?
- The sun let loose an intense solar flare on Tuesday, March 6 at 7:28pm ET from sunspot 1429.
- This is 2nd largest flare during this current solar activity cycle.
Magnitude of event
- This eruption from the sun has been classified as an X5.4-class solar flare.
- X-class flares are the strongest classification of solar flares.
Solar Flare: Sunspot 1429 is where a major solar flare erupted on the sun during the evening of March 6, 2012. Credit: NASA/SDO/HMI
Consequences
- This powerful solar flare has unleashed a coronal mass ejection into space.
- CME is not squarely-earth directed but will be direct enough to offer a glancing blow to Earth on Thursday, March 8 (source: @Camilla_SDO)
- The CME will yield a a G3 or "strong" geomagnetic storm.
- The storm has the potential to trip electrical power grids. Its radio emissions can disrupt global positioning systems to make them less accurate.
- The effects of this G3 storm are set to arrive very early Thursday morning.
- Meanwhile, a solar radiation storm is still in progress and levels are at S3 (strong).
- Communication problems and radiation from the storm will probably force airplanes to avoid flying over the north and south poles.
- Additional Information: Space weather can have serious implications
Will there be auroras?
- Absolutely. There is near certainty that this solar storm will produce aurora across the northern latitudes and could produce them as far south as the mid-latitudes.
- You can expect auroras to appear on March 8 and March 9.
Snap Photos!
- If you happen to be one of the lucky to witness aurora in the night sky, get out your smart phones or cameras and upload to weather.com/iwitness.
- You can also post your aurora photos on our Facebook page or tweet them to us @weatherchannel.
Video of X5.4-Class Solar Flare Eruption
Flare Eruption: The active region 1429 unleashed a powerful X5.4-class solar flare. X-class flares are the strongest of the flares. They are major events that can trigger planet-wide radio blackouts and long-lasting radiation storms. Credit: NASA/SDO
We're all gonna die!!!!!!!!!
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