ANOTHER CME HAS MISSED EARTH: A potentially storm-causing CME missed Earth yesterday. It's the second time this month this has happened (Feb. 1st and 5th). Eventually one will hit. In fact, another CME may be on the way. Keep reading... CME impact alerts: SMS Text
SOLAR FLARE AND CME (UPDATED): Unstable sunspot AR3575 erupted on Feb. 6th (0311 UT), producing a strong M4-class solar flare. A hot plume of plasma lept away from the blast site faster than 400 km/s (900,000 mph):
A flash of extreme ultraviolet radiation from the flare ionized the top of Earth's atmosphere, causing a shortwave radio blackout over Australia: map. Ham radio operators and mariners in the area may have noticed loss of signal at frequencies below 30 MHz for as much as an hour after the flare's peak.
Newly-arriving images from SOHO confirm that the explosion produced a CME:
This will probably become the 3rd CME this month to narrowly miss Earth. The coronagraph movie, above, shows that the bulk of the storm cloud will sail harmlessly ahead of our planet. However, there is a slight chance of a glancing blow on Feb. 8th or 9th. A speedy Feb 8th impact would bring a chance of minor G1-class geomagnetic storms with high-latitude auroras.
Sunspot AR3575 has a 'beta-gamma-delta' magnetic field that harbors energy for even stronger X-class solar flares. NOAA forecasters estimate a 25% chance of such an explosion on Feb. 6th. Stay tuned. Solar flare alerts: SMS Text
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