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The amazing M7 flare


A strong M7 flare occurred in NOAA 2036 on 18 April (peak at 13:03UT). This sunspot region developed on disk in just a few days (image underneath), was magnetically complex but had not produced any strong flare until that day.

Saturday Morning Fever...


During the morning hours of Saturday 12 April, a flare took place near the Sun's southeast limb. It started at 07:15UT and reached its maximum (C5.0) at 07:27UT, then gradually decreased in intensity to end at 08:07UT. It occurred near the trailing part of NOAA 2035, which had shown some low level (C-class) flaring activity during the previous 2 days while rounding the east limb.

Small groups, big flares


Usually, strong solar flares (X-class) are associated to big and complex sunspot groups, reaching maximum areas equivalent to 15 times the surface area of the Earth. That's why it was interesting to see that two recent X-class flares were produced in regions which were much smaller. Indeed, the X-class flares on 25 February and in particular on 29 March this year took place in sunspot regions that hardly reached an area similar to that of the Earth's surface (about 170MH, see Note 1).

Homologous flares


Homologous flares are the solar equivalent of identical twins. They concern a series of solar flares taking place repetitively in the same active region with essentially the same position and with a common pattern of development, i.e. having the same main footpoints and general shape in the main phase as defined in H-alpha or EUV-imagery. Though not a requirement, homologous flares often have similar strength, and if there are more than two, they sometimes occur within similar time intervals.

Waiting for the big one


We are now more than 5 years in the current solar cycle (SC), and so far we have not experienced a single extreme geomagnetic storm.

Revolt of the filaments


Over the last few weeks, big, complex sunspot groups and associated high flaring activity got everybody's attention. One would almost forget that solar filaments are also part of the solar activity. Time for a change!

The big wave!...


The long way to solar maximum


Everybody has noticed it: Over the last few months, solar activity has shifted into a higher gear.

Those darn CMEs!...


In a previous news item, it was already discussed how some CMEs use unconventional techniques to get to Earth undetected and create all of a sudden a geomagnetic disturbance.
Guess what? Those sneaky CMEs found a new way to surprise the space weather forecasters!...

Shoot-out at NOAA 1974


What seemed to be a boring and declining sunspot group suddenly turned out to be the most flare productive group of the week.

On 9 February, NOAA 1974 was a relatively small group with almost no spots in its trailing end. Then, in the course of the day, new magnetic flux emerged in this trailing portion gradually increasing its sunspot area to nearly 6 times the surface area of the Earth by 15 February. In view of the close proximity of the sunspot groups (less than 10 degrees in heliographic longitude), this region was still considered as 1 sunspot group.

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