Large prominence eruption and strong C-class solar flare

Strong solar flare erupted on May 9, 2013 at 22:52 with peak at 23:15 UTC as C9.1 flare, just below M-class threshold. The event was centered around old returning Sunspot 1726. It will be on the visible solar disk in the next 24 hours when it will be designated as Active Region 1745.

X-Ray flux plot (Credit: GOES/SWPC)

STEREO imagery (Credit: NASA/STEREO)

SOHO’s LASCO C3 and C2 coronographs (Credit: ESA/NASA/SOHO)

Earlier on May 9, 2013, SDO captured a large prominence eruption off the southwest limb. A Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) is visible in the latest STEREO Ahead COR2 imagery as well in the both SOHO’s LASCO coronographs. This CME is directed away from Earth.

Sunspot 1734 is now located in the southwest quadrant and is crackling with C-class flares. Sunspots 1732, 1734 and 1736 are each rotating towards the southwest limb and will all be out of direct Earth view May 12, 2013. Meanwhile, three new regions rotated into view off the east limb and were numbered 1742, 1743 and 1744. Regions 1740 and 1741 continued to decay and are now spotless plages. Currently, there are 8 numbered active regions on the visible side of the Sun.

Active regions and coronal holes (Credit: SDO/The Watchers)

NOAA/SWPC forecasters estimate 35% chance of M-class events in the next 24 hours. Geomagnetic conditions remain quiet. The solar wind speed remains elevated (around 500 km/s) due to the influence of a coronal hole.

 

CURRENT CONDITIONS:

Solar wind
speed: 436.2 km/sec
density: 0.5 protons/cm³

The Radio Sun
10.7 cm flux: 127 sfu

Planetary K-index
Now: Kp= 1 quiet
24-hr max: Kp= 2 quiet

Interplanetary Mag. Field
B_total: 3.8 nT
B_z: 0.0 nT

Featured image: NASA – SOHO LASCO