X5.4 Solar Flare
This image is from the March 6, 2012 X5.4 flare, captured by the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) in the 171 Angstrom wavelength. Credit: NASA/SDO/AIA
While most of us slept, the sun was awake and having a tantrum. On Tuesday, evening, it unleashed two of the largest solar flares in five years toward our tiny plant and the impact could be significant. The X5.4 and X1.3 class flares (the strongest category of solar flares) were first detected in visible and high energy EM radiation by NASA spacecraft. Associated with the flares, were two CME’s or Coronal Mass Ejections comprised of charged plasma particles that could threaten power grids, radio communications, satellite operations, and GPS systems. Estimates of the two CME’s plasma velocities should put them in Earth’s vicinity around 7am EST, Thursday. That’s a speed of over 1,000 km/s!
Measurements of Earth’s magnetic field disturbance (KP Planetary Index) are already showing storm strength. Auroras could be seen as far south as 40 degrees north latitude. Power companies are on the alert for strong ground currents that could disrupt service.
Watch it all on the space weather media viewer app or from the Sun- Earth Day website
More from SDO: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sdo/main/index.html
Elaine Lewis
Sun-Earth Day
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