The solar kicked off December with a bang, unleashing a powerful X1.9-class photo voltaic flare that briefly knocked out radio communications throughout Australia and components of southeast Asia.
Coronagraph imagery from SOHO revealed a fast partial-halo coronal mass ejection (CME), a release of plasma and magnetic field from the sun, blasting off the sun’s northeast limb. Earth modelling confirms that the CME is not Earth-directed.
But the real story might be in the enormous sunspot region following closely behind this flare. AR4294, a sprawling, magnetically complex sunspot cluster, is now turning toward Earth. It is so complex that NOAA has split the region into three numbered groups because of its size and complexity. This is also the same area of the sun responsible for multiple X-class flares last month — and it’s only grown even larger.
NOAA space weather forecasters anticipate a probable continuation of M-class photo voltaic flares and a slight likelihood of extra X-flares between Dec. 1-3. While no Earth-directed CMEs have been detected, elevated exercise from AR4294 may change that within the days forward, so watch this house!
Meanwhile, geomagnetic conditions are expected to stay mostly quiet until Dec. 3, when a negative-polarity coronal hole stream may bring minor (G1) geomagnetic storming.