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Sun news update: BLAMMO! X flare from AR3615!


The EarthSky sun news team created this 1-minute video summary for you. Sun activity is HIGH!

Sun news update for March 28, 2024: BLAMMO! X flare from AR3615!

An X flare is underway from AR3615. It started around 20:50 UTC, and it is currently just past X1.1. It appears it might be leveling out, but it’s too early to tell. The region within the last 12 hours released an M7, M6 and an M9.7. An R3 (strong) radio blackout happened following the X flare. It affected an area over Pacific Ocean, between the west coast of Mexico and Hawaii. We wait for further analysis results on any coronal mass ejection (CME) detected coming our way at Earth. We will keep you informed. Stay tuned!

Sun news for March 28, 2024: Activity high! AR3615 keeps going

Today’s top story: Sun activity is high, due to an M7 flare – getting close to an X flare – from AR3615 earlier today. Yesterday, it looked as if this giant, active sunspot region was beginning to decay, as the sun’s rotation carries it ever-closer to disappearing over the sun’s western horizon. But now AR3615 has gotten interesting again! Over the past day, it blasted the M7 … grew 25% in size (after shrinking by about an Earth’s worth of area the day before) … maintained its gamma-beta-delta magnetic complexity, indicating a great potential for more flaring … and it spewed out a beautiful jet. Plus, over the past day, AR3615 was the sole flare producer. Meanwhile, what’s this we see on the opposite side of the sun? It’s a beautiful prominence, sitting off the sun’s southeast limb (edge). Solar plasma is swirling along magnetic field lines high up in the solar atmosphere. It might indicate a new region of activity, sitting just over that horizon, soon to rotate into view. Stay tuned!
Last 24 hours: AR3615’s M7 flare brings sun activity to high. The M7 happened at 6:29 UTC this morning (March 28). An R2 (moderate) radio blackout affected an area over the Indian Ocean centered off the southeast coast of Sri Lanka. During the past day (11 UTC yesterday to 11 UTC today), the sun produced 17 flares in total, one M and 16 Cs. AR3615 is the only flare producer of the period. The sun has six numbered active regions on its Earth-facing side.
Next 24 hours: The forecast is a 99% chance for C flares, a 75% chance for M flares and a 25% chance for X flares.
Next expected CME: No Earth-directed coronal mass ejections (CMEs) were observed in the available imagery.
Current geomagnetic activity: Earth’s geomagnetic field is quiet at the time of this writing (11 UTC on March 28). Quiet conditions will continue for the rest of the day through early tomorrow March 29. Late on March 29 conditions may rise to unsettled levels due to fast solar wind from a coronal hole.

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This image shows sun activity – with the most active regions labeled – as of 4 UTC on March 28, 2024. Original image, without labels, via NASA SDO. Courtesy of NASA/SDO and the AIA, EVE, and HMI science teams, with labeling by EarthSky. Today’s sun is posted by Armando Caussade. Why are east and west on the sun reversed?

Sun news for March 27, 2024: AR3615 goes pow, pow, pow, pow

AR3615 – a region of multiple, scattered sunspots – produced four more M flares in the past day. It produced 22 of the past day’s 23 flares. We’ve watched this mighty region grow from less than the area of one Earth to almost seven Earths in area. We saw it became visible from the ground with eclipse glasses. And it’s been the lead flare producer, occasionally the sole producer, during its days traveling on the sun’s Earth-facing disk. And, almost from its first appearance, AR3615 has maintained a gamma-beta-delta magnetic complexity, indicating a strong potential for flaring. It still carries great potential for more flaring, perhaps including an X flare (the X-flare potential is still at 25% today). It’s still in a position to send sun stuff our way and provide the power for more auroral displays. But now this great region is shrinking in size. How much will it diminish, before the solar rotation takes it out of sight? Stay tuned!
Last 24 hours: Sun activity is at moderate levels, with the production of five M flares, four from AR3615. There were also 18 C flares, bringing the total for the past day to 23 flares (from 11 UTC yesterday to 11 UTC today). The largest event was an M1.9 flare. The list of M flares:
M1.9 by AR3615 at 13:30 UTC on March 26. R1(minor) radio blackout over the Atlantic Ocean off the west coast of Africa.
M1.7 by AR3621 at 13:46 UTC on March 26. R1 radio blackout in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean off the west coast of Africa.
M1.6 by AR3615 at 21:58 UTC on March 26. R1 radio blackout in the middle of the Pacific Ocean off south coast of Hawaii.
M1.1 by AR3615 at 1:44 UTC on March 27. R1 radio blackout in the middle of the Pacific Ocean off the north of Papua New Guinea.
M1.1 by AR3615 at 6:41 UTC on March 27. R1 blackout in the middle of the Indian Ocean off the south coast of India.
Except for the M1.7 flare from AR3621, AR3615 was the sole flare producer, with four M and 18 C flares. The sun has eight numbered active regions on its Earth-facing side.

Sun news for March 26, 2024: Sunspot region AR3615 still spitting out flares

Sun activity is back to moderate levels with the production of multiple M flares from active region AR3615. This sunspot region is under watch since it continues to grow with the promising magnetic complexity of a beta-gamma-delta; chances for even an X flare go to 25%. During the past day, this active region was the major flare producer. At Earth, after the joyous aurora party, Earth’s magnetic field returned to quiet levels. A G1 (minor) geomagnetic storm is expected during the day, but compared to the high activity of the past few days, it looks like Earth’s magnetic field is taking a break. Predictive Science Inc., which started releasing coronal predictions for total eclipses in 2017, released its new prediction for the state of the corona on April 8, 2024. It looks very exciting, with far more structure and complexity than the 2017 eclipse. The shape of the sun’s corona for the 2024 total solar eclipse will be much more complex than in 2017. This shows one of the differences between the sun during a solar maximum and a solar minimum. What a sight it should be! Just make sure to observe the sun safely and only look at it directly during totality if you are in the path at 100%. We will keep bringing you more sun news. Stay with us.
Last 24 hours: Sun activity dropped to moderate with the production of several M flares in the past day. But flaring production of our star increased during our observation period. Between 11 UTC yesterday and at 11 UTC today, the sun produced 25 flares: three Ms and 22 Cs. The largest event was an M1.9 flare from AR3616 at 0:36 UTC on March 26. An R1(minor) radio blackout occurred in the Pacific Ocean over Micronesia. The other M flare was an M1.0 from AR3615 at 10:10 UTC, March 26, causing an R1 (minor) radio blackout over middle Africa. Active region AR3615 continued flaring throughout the day, producing 18 flares in total. This active region continues to be the largest in size and the only one showing beta-gamma-delta magnetic complexity, meaning it has the potential for larger explosions, including an X flare. Space weather forecasters keep a 25% chance of an X flare occurring mainly because of this sunspot, while the rest of the active regions show stability or decay with only alpha configurations. Two large new coronal holes are forming, one in the northwest quadrant near the north pole limb (edge) and a second in the southeast. Today the sun has eight numbered active regions on its Earth-facing side. We currently have strong lines in four sunspot regions in the northern and southern hemispheres. What a Solar Cycle 25 we’ve had so far!

Sun news for March 25, 2024: Strong geomagnetic storms, plus this sunspot!


Earth’s magnetic field took a rollercoaster ride over the past 24 hours! We reached minor-to-moderate geomagnetic storm levels (G1-G2) early yesterday. They increased to G4 (severe) for a brief time afterwards. During most of that time, it was still light outside for those of us in the Americas, but auroras were reported down to Tasmania in the Southern Hemisphere. And we were hearing aurora reports from Alaska last night, including a near-real-time report from Fairbanks about an hour before the time of this writing (those reports included sightings of STEVE). Meanwhile, activity at the sun was moderate to high, with 19 flares, all from AR3615, including an M4.5. This region still has a great deal of flaring potential. It has maintained its beta-gamma-delta magnetic complexity and continues to increase in size. It has grown in area to almost that of seven Earths. It should be easily visible from the ground with the proper safe solar viewing methods both direct and indirect. Despite its prime location near disk center, the region has not thrown out any obvious Earth-directed CMEs, but there is still time. Stay tuned.
Last 24 hours: Sun activity is moderate to high, with 19 flares from AR3615. This includes four Ms, and two of the remaining C flares were just shy of M1. The largest event was an M4.5 at 6:37 UTC on March 25, 2024. All of the M flares caused R1 radio blackouts, affecting areas centered on the location where the sun was highest in the sky. A large prominence erupted from the south pole region around 14:04 UTC on March 24, 2024. The sun has seven labeled active regions.

Scattered sunspot region.
Sun news March 25, 2024. This scattered sunspot region – AR3615 – has grown about 7 Earths in area! It should be easily visible from the ground with safe solar viewing methods, both direct and indirect.

Sun news for March 24, 2024: 17 M flares from 1 sunspot region!

The sun experienced a crazy amount of flaring over the past day, exclusively from sunspot region AR3615. The region just couldn’t seem to stop popping off M flares, which are moderately strong flares, one step below X. It produced 17 M flares in the past day. Many C flares were actually just below the threshold to make them M-class events. Solar energetic particles from yesterday’s halo CME continue at elevated levels. The radiation store briefly hit the S2 level but went it back to S1. This continues to cause radio disturbances in polar regions. On Earth, we saw the geomagnetic field move in and out of storming conditions. These were mostly G1 (minor) level events with an isolated G2 storm early March 24. This was due to a combination of fast solar wind from a coronal hole and the effects of miscellaneous minor coronal mass ejections (CMEs). All of this was enhanced because we are in aurora season near the March equinox. The skies did not disappointed with auroral displays reported at higher latitudes. The CME from yesterday’s duel region X flare is expected to reach Earth in the evening to early morning (Eastern US time), March 24-25. Storms up to G3 are predicted meaning aurora could reach the northern US and Europe. Good luck aurora watchers.
Last 24 hours: Sun activity is high with 25 solar flares with 17 M flares and 8 C flares produced between 11 UTC yesterday and 11 UTC today. All the events came from hyperactive region, AR3615. The largest event was an M5.4 flare at 13:51 March 23. All of the M flares less than M5 caused R1 radio blackouts affect areas centered on the location when were the sun was highest in the sky. The M5.4 event caused an R2 level radio blackout. A few far side filament eruption were observed on the limbs (edges). A large, structured prominence is sitting on the southwest limb (edge). The sun has seven labeled active regions.

The sun in recent days

This image shows sun activity – with the most active regions labeled – as of 1 UTC on March 27, 2024. Courtesy of NASA/ SDO and the AIA, EVE, and HMI science teams, with labeling by EarthSky.
This image shows sun activity – with the most active regions labeled – as of 0 UTC on March 26, 2024. Courtesy of NASA/ SDO and the AIA, EVE, and HMI science teams, with labeling by EarthSky.
This image shows sun activity – with the most active regions labeled – as of 0 UTC on March 25, 2024. Courtesy of NASA/ SDO and the AIA, EVE, and HMI science teams, with labeling by EarthSky.
This image shows sun activity – with the most active regions labeled – as of 1 UTC on March 24, 2024. Courtesy of NASA/ SDO and the AIA, EVE, and HMI science teams, with labeling by EarthSky.
This image shows sun activity – with the most active regions labeled – as of 0 UTC on March 23, 2024. Courtesy of NASA/ SDO and the AIA, EVE, and HMI science teams, with labeling by EarthSky.
This image shows sun activity – with the most active regions labeled – as of 0 UTC on March 22, 2024. Courtesy of NASA/ SDO and the AIA, EVE, and HMI science teams, with labeling by EarthSky.
This image shows sun activity – with the most active regions labeled – as of 1 UTC on March 21, 2024. Courtesy of NASA/ SDO and the AIA, EVE, and HMI science teams, with labeling by EarthSky.

Sun news images from our community

Are you a fan of sun news? We invite you all to send us your beautiful recent photos of sunspots and auroras. Naturally, we love receiving your photos! And to those of you who’ve already posted a photo to our community page, thank you.

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View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Patricio León in Santiago, Chile, captured this filtered image of the sun on March 27, 2024. Patricio wrote: “AR3615 is progressively shortening as it follows the sun’s curvature but its complexity remains the same.” Thank you, Patricio!
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Jeremy Likness in Newport, Oregon, captured this hydrogen-alpha filtered image of the sun on March 26, 2024. Jeremy wrote: “Get too close and you may get burned! Solar activity and prominences visible at the edge and snaking across the surface of the sun.” Thank you, Jeremy!
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | David Hawkes in Sheffield, United Kingdom, captured this filtered image of the sun on March 26, 2024. David wrote: “An unexpectedly sunny day here so took advantage and got this shot. AR3615 dominates the view today. Sunspots nicely spaced across the solar disk.” Thank you, David!
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Egidio Vergani in Milano, Italy, captured this hydrogen-alpha filtered image of the sun on March 25, 2024. Egidio wrote: “Four regions of sunspots close to each other and very large. At the top on the left is AR3619, then going to the right is AR3614, going down AR3617 and then the gigantic AR3615, one of the largest I have seen. Thank you, Egidio!
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Mario Rana in Hampton, Virginia, captured this filtered image on March 25, 2024. Mario wrote: “Hydrogen-alpha image of the sun featuring large active region AR3615.” Thank you, Mario!
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Shireen Gonzaga in Cockeysville, Maryland, captured this filtered image of the sun on March 24, 2024. Shireen wrote: “AR3615, that collection of sunspots near the middle, is jaw-dropping!” Thank you, Shireen!
View at EarthSky Community Photos. | Joel Weatherly in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, captured this white-light filtered view of the sun on March 24, 2024. Joel wrote “The sun has been entertaining to watch this weekend, sporting numerous sunspots and producing some stunning flares. Through partly cloudy skies, I caught this glimpse of our busy star.” Thank you, Joel!

Bottom line: Sun news for March 28, 2024. UPDATE: X FLARE! AR3615 fired an X1.11 flare at 20:56 UTC on March 28, 2024.

Posted 
March 28, 2024
 in 
Brightest Stars

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