ANOTHER X-CLASS SOLAR FLARE: High solar activity continued this morning with an X1-class solar flare from sunspot 4298. NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory captured the extreme ultraviolet flash:
STRONG GEOMAGNETIC STORM PREDICTED: A coronal mass ejection (CME) is heading straight for Earth. NOAA forecasters say that strong G3-class geomagnetic storms are possible when it arrives on Dec. 9th. The full halo CME was launched on Dec. 6th by an M8-class solar flare from sunspot 4299. If it is as potent as NOAA thinks, it could spark auroras from the Arctic Circle to mid-latitude US states.
SURPRISE GEOMAGNETIC STORM: No CME? No problem. On Sept. 28–29, auroras erupted around the Arctic Circle even though no solar storm was headed for Earth. “It looked like a CME impact,” says Karsten Berger, who watched purple curtains rain down over Yellowknife, Canada.
