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The Sun Releases a Huge M Class Solar Flare

Jan 23, 2012; 8:38 AM ET

From AccuWeather's Facebook Astronomy expert Daniel Vogler, "A huge M class (solar) flare from (sunspot) 1402 this time! CME (Coronal Mass Ejection) expected to hit around Wednesday (or) Thursday. Glancing blow again. Kp index of 5-6 is my guess again as it heads over the north side of us."

Spaceweather.com said, "Jan. 23rd around 0359 UT (about 11PM Last night EST), big sunspot 1402 erupted, producing a long-duration M9-class solar flare. The explosion's M9-ranking puts it on the threshold of being an X-flare, the most powerful kind."

For those who are not as knowledgeable about the Sun as Daniel is (I am in that group), let's define some things. All these definitions are courtesy of Wikipedia. A "solar flare" is "a sudden brightening observed over the Sun surface or the solar limb, which is interpreted as a large energy release. The flare ejects clouds of electrons, ions, and atoms through the corona into space. These clouds typically reach Earth a day or two after the event."

By "M class," he is referring to how solar flares are quantified. "Solar flares are classified as A, B, C, M or X according to the peak flux (in watts per square meter, W/m2) of 100 to 800 picometer X-rays near Earth, as measured on the GOES spacecraft. Each class has a peak flux ten times greater than the preceding one, with X class flares having a peak flux of order 10−4 W/m2. Within a class there is a linear scale from 1 to 9, so an X2 flare is twice as powerful as an X1 flare, and is four times more powerful than an M5 flare. The more powerful M and X class flares are often associated with a variety of effects on the near-Earth space environment."

"Sunspot 1402" refers to a certain sunspot, which is defined as "temporary phenomena on the photosphere of the Sun that appear visibly as dark spots compared to surrounding regions. They are caused by intense magnetic activity, which inhibits convection by an effect comparable to the eddy current brake, forming areas of reduced surface temperature." Check out

www.spaceweather.com for an image of this sunspot.

By "glancing blow," he means that the energy released from the solar flare will not hit the Earth directly. When that happens, there can be effects felt here on Earth, in terms of a northern and southern light show for sure, but also disruptions in communications and in electric service if it is strong enough.

The "KP index" "quantifies disturbances in the horizontal component of earth's magnetic field with an integer in the range 0-9 with 1 being calm and 5 or more indicating a geomagnetic storm." To see auroras well in the lower 48 states, we would want at least a 7 on the scale.

You can see sunspot 1402 in the upper right part of the Sun.

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About This Blog

Mark Paquette
The AccuWeather.com astronomy blog, by Mark Paquette, discusses stargazing and astronomy issues and how the weather will interact with current astronomy events.