September 2nd, the CME is Coming...

The above image was taken September 1st at 19:25:00 UTC by the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA), at 304 Angstroms, aboard the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). Image Credit: SDO/AIA

For the end of August 31th and most of September 1st, the solar activity was low. The largest flare was a C3 flare from Active Region 1554 (AR 1554) at 00:39 UTC. AR 1560 is still the largest and most complex on the sun's disc. The forecast through September 4th: The solar activity level is expected to be low with a chance for moderate activity.

Back at Earth, 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...

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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