An active region on the sun has spawned an M8.7 eruption – nearly an X-flare – that blasted a stream of charged particles toward Earth, due to arrive tomorrow (January 24, 2012). Experts at NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center are saying it is the strongest radiation storm since 2005. The eruption took place last night (January 22) at 9:59 p.m. according to clocks in the central U.S. (03:59 UTC on January 23). There is no danger to you on Earth’s surface, but satellites in orbit might feel the effects and your cell phone might act twitchier than usual. Plus … aurora alert at lower latitudes than normal!
Who will see the aurora on January 24, 2012?
Are solar storms dangerous to us?
NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory captured the M8.7 flare’s extreme ultraviolet flash:
Sunspot 1402 erupted on January 23, 2012 and produced a long-duration M9-class solar flare - nearly an X-flare, the most powerful kind. Image Credit: NASA SDO
The eruption came from sunspot 1402, on a part of the sun that recently turned into view and has been active for several days. The leading edge of the resulting stream of charged particles – known as a coronal mass ejection, or CME – is expected to reach Earth on January 24 at 8 a.m. CST, or 14 UTC (+/- 7 hours). Mars is due to be struck by the CME, too, on January 25.
The curved line in the far left part of this image is the wave of solar radiation particles traveling outward, due to strike Earth on January 24, 2012 and Mars on January 25. See an animated version of this image here from NASA.
Click here to expand image above.
NASA’s Goddard Space Weather Center’s models predict that the CME is moving at almost 1,400 miles per second! Contrast that to Earth’s orbital motion of 18 miles per second. So it is moving fast!
How will the solar radiation storm affect Earth? When the coronal mass ejection – CME, or stream of charged particles from the sun – reaches Earth, strong geomagnetic storms are possible. Coronal mass ejections can disrupt radio transmissions and cause damage to satellites in orbit. On very rare occasions, they can affect electrical transmission line facilities, resulting in potentially massive and long-lasting power outages. Humans in space risk exposure to intense radiation.
Will any of these effects occur on January 24, 2012? No one knows. They are merely the potential effects of such a storm, and, remember, these storm happen pretty often especially when – as now – the sun is in an active part of its 11-year cycle. In fact, the last CME reported to be headed toward Earth was just a few days ago.
Whatever happens, there is no danger to us on Earth’s surface.
The aurora borealis shines above Bear Lake, Alaska. Image via Wikimedia Commons.
Click here to expand image above
Who will see the aurora, or northern lights, on January 24, 2012? A powerful solar radiation storm like the one due to strike Earth tomorrow can create particularly beautiful displays of aurorae – known as northern lights (aurora borealis) in the Northern Hemisphere, and southern lights (aurora australis) in the Southern Hemisphere.
It’s not possible to say who will see the aurora on January 24, 2012. But experts are saying that aurorae should be visible at lower latitudes than normal. Be sure to go outside that night and look!
Bottom line: Sunspot 1402 spawned an M8.7 eruption on the sun at 03:59 UTC on January 23. The eruption sent a stream of charged particles toward Earth – due to sweep past us tomorrow (January 24, 2012). Experts are saying it will be the strongest radiation storm since 2005. It might create beautiful displays of the aurora at lower latitudes than normal. Be sure to look when it gets dark on January 24!
We saw the one about 7 years ago or so. We are in North Carolina. We will definitely be looking!
Nice! I really hope to catch this! Since the CME with hit Earth Jan. 24 at 8a.m. CST, does it matter that it’s daylight where we’re at? Or do we just have to keep a lookout on the night of?
in 1859 a similar solar event caused telegraph lines in North America and Europe to burn and actually started fires in several hundred places connected to them, Imagine a repeat event in todays modern and technological environment, We are all connected to a massive hydro grid as well as communication and plumbing network, a repeat of 1859′s storm would certainly mean the end of life as we know it today!
Will have to take a look tomorrow night. Don’t expect much in NC, though.
[...] : earthsky.org Environnement, [...]
[...] EarthSky.org: Yesterday, space weather experts reported that the strongest solar radiation storm in 7 years will strike Earth today. In fact, by the time [...]
This storm was an M9 according to spaceweather.com I don’t understand the headlines about being the biggest for 7 years as reported by Space.com, when the same Space.com said in Feb 2011 that a much bigger X2.2 was the biggest storm for 4 years. Is everyone following an incorrect report in Space.com or am I missing something? http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/15/solar-flare_n_823569.html
Stuart, it sounds to me as if the Huffington Post article is not right when it says “The sun released the most powerful solar flare in 4 years last night, a spectacular event that was captured by NASA.” Yes, there have been stronger flares on the sun – X flares, for example – within the past year.
But the strength of the radiation storm encountered by Earth wouldn’t just depend on the strength of the flare. It would also depend on the orientation of the resulting CME with respect to Earth – how it struck Earth – whether it just glanced off us, or hit us more directly.
Look at the image in the middle of the article that shows how the CME strikes us. I tried hard to capture a still of the original animation to show how directly this CME was striking, but never could catch it at the right moment. You’ll be able to see it better if you go to the animation itself: http://iswa.gsfc.nasa.gov/downloads/20120123_052000_anim.tim-den.gif
Looks like a pretty direct hit to me …
Deborah
Didn’t this happen in the movie 2012?