The last solar flare of 2013 erupted on December 31 at 21:58 UTC from sunspot 1936, and the event produced an associated slow-moving CME which was "not expected to disturb Earth's magnetic field if and when it does arrive." www.spaceweather.com 2014 arrived with a Bang!! At 18:52 UTC on January 1, sunspot 1936 exploded again, this time a strong M9.9 flare! Dec 31, 2013 M6.4 - Flare began at: 2145 peaked at: 2158 ended at: 2220 9.1E-02 (Sunspot active region 1936) Jan 1, 2014 M9.9 - Flare began at: 1840 peaked at: 1852 ended at: 1903 8.2E-02 (Sunspot active region 1936) http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/ftpmenu/indices/events.html Joint USAF/NOAA Solar Geophysical Activity Report and Forecast Issued at 2200Z on 01 Jan 2014 "Analysis of Solar Active Regions and Activity from 31/2100Z to 01/2100Z: Solar activity has been at high levels for the past 24 hours. The largest solar event of the period was a M9 event observed at 01/1852Z. There are currently 7 numbered sunspot regions on the disk. Solar Activity Forecast: Solar activity is likely to be moderate with a chance for X-class flares on days one, two, and three (02 Jan, 03 Jan, 04 Jan)." Forecast - Report of Solar and Geophysical Activity: http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/ftpmenu/latest.html "Solar flares are classified as A, B, C, M or X according to the peak flux (in watts per square meter, W/m2) of 100 to 800 picometer X-rays near Earth, as measured on the GOES spacecraft. Within a class there is a linear scale from 1 to 9.n (apart from X), so an X2 flare is twice as powerful as an X1 flare, and is four times more powerful than an M5 flare." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_flare "The GOES 12 through 15 spacecraft each carry a sophisticated Solar X-ray Imager to monitor the Sun's X-rays for the early detection of solar flares, coronal mass ejections, and other phenomena that impact the geospace environment." http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/sxi/index.html Explanation on the Classification of X-ray Solar Flares : http://spaceweather.com/glossary/flareclasses.html SWPC Real-time Monitor Displays http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/rt_plots Credit: Helioviewer.org/JHelioviewer SOHO (ESA & NASA)

• published: 02 Jan 2014
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