Sept 3rd, Possible Storms From Aug 31st CME...

The above X-ray image of the sun was taken September 3rd at 01:48:00 UTC by the Solar X-ray Imager (SXI) aboard the GOES-15 satellite. Image Credit: NOAA

For the end of September 1st and most of the 2nd, the solar activity was low. The largest flare was a C5 flare produced by Active Region 1560 (AR 1560) on the 2nd at 18:10 UTC. And this remains the largest and most magnetically complex region, with a beta-gamma configuration. Two potentially Earth-directed coronal mass ejections (CMEs) were observed with estimated speeds of 570 and 530 km/s, and a Type IV radio sweep occurred at 04:35 UTC. The forecast through September 5th: The solar activity is expected to be low with a chance for an M-class flare.

At home, the geomagnetic field activity ranged from quiet to unsettled levels. The forecast through the 4th: On September 2nd, the geomagnetic activity is expected to range from quiet to unsettled. On the 3rd, the activity is expected to increase to minor storm levels with a chance for major storm levels with the arrival of the August 31st coronal mass ejecting (CME), and there is a chance of reaching severe storm levels at high latitudes. On the 4th, the activity is expected to decrease to mostly unsettled conditions as the CME effects wane. Stay tuned...

The forecast through September 5th: September 3rd will see the arrival of the CME from August 31st. The high latitudes have a chance of severe storms. On the 4th and 5th, activity is expected to decrease to mostly unsettled conditions with continuing CME effects. And the two CMEs observed on the 2nd, along with the coronal hold high-speed stream, are expected to arrive on the 5th. 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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