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Sunday, September 09, 2012

M1 Flare, CME from AR 1564 / 1562 Interaction

The linked video, prepared by Helioviewer.org, shows images taken on September 8th from about 14:59 UTC to 19:17 UTC, by the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA), at 131 Angstroms, aboard the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), during the time of the long-duration M1 solar flare involving Active Regions 1564 and 1562 (AR 1562 and AR 1562). Image Credit: SDO/AIA.  captured by the Solar Dynamics Observatory.

CLICK HERE to view the video at YouTube.

For the end of September 7th and most of the 8th, the solar activity was moderate. On the 8th at 17:59 UTC, a long-duration M1 solar flare was observed, appearing to involve an interaction between Active Regions 1564 and 1562 (AR 1564 and AR 1562). At the moment, AR 1564 appears to be the largest region on the sun's disc. At 10:00 UTC, Solar Heliospheric Observatory's (SOHO's) LASCO C2 instrument observed a coronal mass ejection off the west limb. And according to the STEREO-A COR2 imagery, it appears to be a full halo CME. But this CME is not expected to affect Earth. The forecast through September 11th: The solar activity is expected to remain low with a chance for an M-flare on the 9th and 10th, decreasing to a slight chance on day the 11th.

Above Earth, the geomagnetic field ranged from quiet to unsettled levels, with one period of active conditions at high latitudes. The solar wind speed at the Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) spacecraft remained near 400 km/s.  The Bz component of the interplanetary magnetic field ranged from about +/- 5nT and Earth remained in the positive sector. A slow rise in high-energy particles at ACE was observed beginning on the 9th around 11:00 UTC. This rise is believed to be associated with that CME observed around 10:00 UTC. The forecast through September 11th: The geomagnetic field is expected to be mostly quiet. Stay tuned...

To monitor solar flare activity minute by minute, visit the "Today's Space Weather" page of NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center (www.swpc.noaa.gov/today.html).

To learn more about the sun and to stay current on solar activity, visit the mission home pages of the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) (sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov), the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) (sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov), the Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) (www.srl.caltech.edu/ACE), and the Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO) (stereo.gsfc.nasa.gov).

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