Last night, a powerful solar flare occurred on the Sun, associated with the AR4114 region. However, it was not accompanied by a coronal mass ejection, so there is no threat of a powerful magnetic storm on Earth yet.
On the night of the 17th, at 21:49 UTC (5:49 p.m. ET), an X1.27-class solar flare occurred on the Sun, originating from the AR4114 sunspot group, which is directly facing Earth. In fact, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration warned yesterday of the high probability of such a scenario, estimating the likelihood of an X-class flare at 30%. The basis for this forecast was both the complex magnetic structure of AR4114 and the previous fairly powerful flare from the same active region, which occurred on June 15 and reached class M8.4, barely reaching X.
Although tonight’s flare is classified as one of the most powerful, it was not accompanied by a coronal mass ejection, so no geomagnetic storm is expected. The only consequence was a brief disruption of R3-class radio communications on certain frequencies affecting the western part of the North American continent.
Nevertheless, a huge coronal hole is “staring” at us from the Sun. Such regions of the solar corona are characterized by lower plasma density and temperature, which contributes to the free escape of plasma into interplanetary space. Usually, such a turn is not characterized by high speed or power. The collision of solar plasma with the magnetosphere can cause a mild geomagnetic storm (G1-G2), but almost never leads to auroras in mid-latitudes.
According to www.spaceweather.com
