news

CMEs hitting Earth

Submitted on 2003-11-14

Since November 11, 4 beautiful halo coronal mass ejections (CMEs) were seen in SOHO/LASCO C3 imagery. Two of them were directed directly to the Earth. The other two were backsided and will therefore have no effect on us.

In the LASCO C3 movie above, four major CMEs can be identified:

Return of the monster sunspot groups!

Submitted on 2003-11-12

Catania sunspot group 065 (NOAA 10484) will today re-appear at the East limb. This group generated 2 X-class flares and more than 10 M-class flares during its previous rotation. Stay tuned for updates!

Third Very large x-ray solar flare in less than one week !!!

Submitted on 2003-10-30

Very large x-ray (X17.2) flare from Sunspot Group 070 (NOAA 10486)

Submitted on 2003-10-29

The SIDC sent an alert message on October 28 at 12:10 UT:

Two x-ray flares from Sunspot Group 070

Submitted on 2003-10-23

This time it is not Catania sunspot group 065, but sunspot group 070 (NOAA 10486) that is responsible for all the trouble. This group rotated over the east limb on October 23.

X-flare Activity

Submitted on 2003-10-20

The SIDC has sent an alert message on October 19 at 18:07 UTC:

An X1.2 flare took place a few minutes ago (Start: 16:27 , Peak: 16:50 , End: 17:20UTC) in active region Catania 065 - NOAA 10484 (position N06E61). This event will affect radio propagation and may be followed by other M-class flares, and maybe another X-class flare in the next few hours and days.

A major solar flare and a two-step prominence eruption on 23 July

Submitted on 2002-07-23

A beautiful and puzzling full halo CME on July 16

Submitted on 2002-07-16

Above is a picture from the LASCO C2 coronagraph showing a full halo coronal mass ejection (CME) surrounding the solar disk. This CME left the Sun on July 16 around 16UT. Its origin and direction were puzzling. It was not certain whether the CME was directed straight towards Earth or was directed away from us.