A solar flare strikes Earth

NASA / ESA - SOHO Mission patch / NASA - Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) patch.

Jan. 24, 2012

The largest solar flare since 2005 has begin to hit the Earth, bombarding the planet magnetic particles that could disrupt satellite communications, announced Monday the U.S. authorities.

The eruption was triggered Sunday near the center of the sun. It should project particles of protons toward Earth until Wednesday. This geomagnetic storm is the strongest since 2005. Ranked 3 on a scale of 5, it is "strong" but not "severe." It may be that the people of Europe and Asia see the Northern Lights.

 Aurora Borealis over Eastern Europe from the International Space Station

Long Duration M3.2 Class Solar Flare and CME

Video above: The Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) captured this video of the M3.2 solar flare on January 19, 2012. The graph at the top indicates corresponding X-ray measurements taken by the GOES-15 satellite. Credit: NASA / SDO / GOES-15.

A long duration M-class flare began erupting on the sun at 8:42 AM ET on Thursday, January 19. The flare is shown in the above movie from the Solar Dynamics Observatory in a combination of light wavelengths. An earth-directed coronal mass ejection was associated with the solar flare. 

SOHO Sees Jan 19, 2012 CME

Video above: A coronal mass ejection beginning at about 10 AM ET on January 19, 2012, as captured by the Solar Heliospheric Observatory's LASCO C2 camera. Please Note: This video loops 3 times. Credit: NASA / SOHO.

01.22.12: SOHO's View of Earth-directed CME

Video above: The Solar Heliospheric Observatory captured the coronal mass ejection (CME) in this video (which shows the sun's activity from January 19 to January 23). The CME is associate with an M8.7 class solar flare from AR1402. The end of the movie shows the interference caused by the onslaught of fast, energetic solar particles emitted from the sun. Credit: SOHO/ESA & NASA

 An earth-directed coronal mass ejection was associated with the solar flare. NASA's Space Weather Services estimates that it is traveling at over 630 miles per second and will reach Earth some time on Saturday, January 24, when strong geomagnetic storms are possible and viewers can be on the look out for increased aurora.

01.22.12: SDO's View of M8.7 Solar Flare

Video above: Solar Dynamics Observatory captured the flare, shown here in teal as that is the color typically used to show light in the 131 Angstrom wavelength, a wavelength in which it is easy to view solar flares. The flare began at 10:38 PM ET on Jan. 22, peaked at 10:59 PM and ended at 11:34 PM.

Radiation Belt's Reaction to Geomagnetic Storms

From October to December 2003, the radiation belts swelled and shrank in response to geomagnetic storms as particles entered and escaped the belts. At one point, 3 radiation belts are detected.

Under the wave of energetic particles from the Halloween 2003 solar storm events, the Earth's radiation belts underwent significant changes in structure. This visualization is constructed using daily-averaged particle flux data from the SAMPEX satellite installed in a simple dipole model for the Earth's magnetic field.

What is a solar flare? What is a coronal mass ejection?

For answers to these and other space weather questions, please visit the Spaceweather Frequently Asked Questions page: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sunearth/spaceweather/index.html

Videos (mentioned), Image, Text, Credit: ESA / NASA Goddard Space Flight Center / Karen C. Fox / Translation: Orbiter.ch.

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