Solar blast set to hit 1/21/2012

On Thursday, January 19, 2012 there was an active sunspot that erupted , and consequently a solar flare is heading in the direction of Earth, for an arrival two days later, on Saturday, January 21/21012. The sunspot on the Sun, called sunspot 1401, erupted for over an hour, approximately at 1600 GMT. 

Another sunspot, at location sunspot 1402, occurred also on Thursday. For more on sunspot 1402, please go to Solarham.com. Consequently, a M3-class solar flare and a coronal mass ejection (CME) resulted from sunspot 1401.

Thursday's solar flare rated as a powerful M2-class sun storm on the scale used by astronomers to measure flare strength. M-class storms are powerful, but mid-range, types of solar flares. They fall between the weaker C-class flares and the most powerful X-class solar storms, which can pose a threat to satellites and astronauts in orbit, cause widespread communications interference and damage infrastructure on Earth when aimed directly at the planet.

SDO mission scientists have said that sunspot group 1401 has been unleashing solar flares almost daily as the sun's rotation slowly turned the solar hotspot toward Earth in recent days. On Wednesday (Jan. 18), the region unleashed an M1.7-class solar flare.

A solar flare is an sudden brightening of the Sun’s surface, which releases enormous amounts of energy, upwards of one-sixth of the total energy output of the Sun in one second.


A M3-class is a strong solar flare, with rankings going from A, B, C, M, and X, from weakest to strongest of peak flux (rate of flow across an area), and 1 to 9 (weakest to strongest), where 2 is twice as strong as 1.