Earth-directed M5.3 solar flare took place

This morning at 0150 UT, sunspot 1283 produced an M5.3-class solar flare. A movie from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory shows the flash of extreme UV radiation. Because of the sunspot’s central location on the solar disk, the eruption was Earth-directed and a CME might be heading our way. Stay tuned for updates. (SpaceWeather)

Solar wind
speed: 428.6 km/sec
density: 0.1 protons/cm³

The Radio Sun
10.7 cm flux: 119 sfu

Planetary K-index
Now: Kp= 2 quiet
24-hr max: Kp= 2 quiet

A moderate sized Solar Flare took place at 01:50 UTC Tuesday morning. An R2 Level radio blackout resulted. The solar flare was centered around Sunspot 1283 which is located in the center of the visible solar disk. While looking at the latest STEREO Ahead COR2 images, there appears to be a CME. More images will be needed to determine just how big. It does appear that a portion of this explosion may be earth directed.

Just as active Sunspot 1286 is rotating out of view on the western limb, a large new Sunspot is now rotating into view on the northeast limb. We will get a better view within the next 24 hours. The solar X-Rays remain in C-Class territory due to the departing Sunspot cluster and there will be a chance for another M-Class event.

Sunspot 1283 remains a large Sunspot group and now has a Beta-Gamma magnetic configuration and also may produce an M-Class event. (SolarHam)