X-CLASS SOLAR FLARE & CME Unleashed by SUN - Largest Sunspots Ever Seen in Last Decade says NASA

The sun unleashed a significant X-class solar flare at 1:32 p.m. EST on Jan. 7, 2014 -- the first major flare of 2014. The moment was preceded by a mid-level flare earlier during the day, with both events taking place over a different region of a sizable sunspot group, currently positioned over the center of the sun.
SDOs Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager shows active regions on the sun, AR1944 and AR1943


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Solar flares are characterized by a sudden brightening over the Sun's surface, culminating in a large output of energy, and are very frequently followed by coronal mass ejections (CMEs). Each flare forcefully ejects large clouds of ions, electrons and atoms through the sun's corona and into space. Solar flares are known to occur frequently around active regions near sunspots -- relatively cool, dark regions on the surface of the sun; it is believed the powerful magnetic fields of sunspots create a connection between the solar interior and the corona, with flares driven by the rapid release of magnetic energy that builds up in the corona.

The latest solar flare was classified as an X1.2-class flare. X-class represents the most intense of all flares, and the number conveys information that specifically relates to the flare's strength. For example, an X2 demonstrates twice the intensity of an X1, whereas an X3 has three times the intensity of an X1 solar flare. The weakest known flares are categorized as A-class, followed by B-class, C-class, then M-class flares, in order of increasing intensity.

A large coronal mass ejection has reached Earth -- days after the Sun sent a massive burst of solar wind and electromagnetic radiation towards our planet. While causing no major geomagnetic storm, it has produced spectacular auroras in northern Europe.



The coronal mass ejection (CME) arrived near Earth at 2:32pm EST (7:32pm GMT) on Thursday, with its effects expected to continue throughout Friday, according to US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center has issued a warning of a geomagnetic storm with "minor disruptions to communications and GPS."

While the world's economies braced for possible blackouts in high-frequency airline and military communications, disruptions to GPS signals and power grids, enthusiasts in the northern hemisphere rushed outdoors in the hope of viewing the stunning aurora borealis as far south as Colorado.

However, American aurora spotters have been disappointed, as, according to spaceweather.com, the CME's impact was "weaker than expected" and failed to produce widespread storms. Some frustrated Twitter users also blamed cloudy skies for not being able to see the northern lights.

Observers were luckier around the Arctic Circle in Norway, where a dark and clear night at the time of impact, as well as more favorable latitude, put an aurora on display.

NOAA forecasters still estimated an 85 percent chance of polar geomagnetic storms before the end of Friday, and media cheered the sky watchers by saying there remains a chance of some clear aurora sightings Friday night.
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The CME that stroke the Earth has been associated with the large X1.2-class solar flare that was unleashed from a giant sunspot AR1944 on January 7. The flare has been described as the most powerful this year so far, with X-class denoting the most severe intensity.

Sunspots of this magnitude are common, Murtagh said, especially in the current 11-year "solar maximum" of activity. In previous cycles of maximum activity in 2003, the sun had a flare that reached about X35 or 35 times larger than this recent flare, according to John Kappenman of Storm Analysis Consultants.

"Fortunately [it was] not directed towards the Earth," Kappenman said. "It saturated NOAA's X Ray sensors it was so off the charts large... it would be this class flare or a combination of several larger flares (like X5 to X10 level) over a period of several days that are most likely to give rise to a really big storm like the Carrington Event of 1859 or the 1921 Railroad Storm."