Major solar flare erupts near the eastern limb, no Earth-directed CMEs

A pair of solar flares erupted near the eastern limb of the Sun at about 00:55 and 03:25 UTC on July 23, 2017, and were observed in STEREO-A EUVI 195 imagery.

The source is Active Region 2665 which produced a long-duration M2.4 solar flare and Earth-directed CME on July 14 that hit Earth on July 16, sparking geomagnetic storms reaching G2 – Moderate levels. Although there is no way to be sure how strong today's flares were, one of them might have been in the X range.

Shortly after today's second eruption, SWPC reports, STEREO-A COR2 imagery observed a pair of fast-moving CMEs off the northeast and southeast limbs with the second resulting in an asymmetric halo signature. In addition, both LASCO C2 and C3 imagery observed a full-halo CME.

The location of these events places them near dead center on the backside of the disk with no Earth-directed component expected.

There are currently no numbered sunspot regions on the Earth-side of the Sun.

Solar activity is expected to be at very low levels over the next three days.

Featured image: Farside eruption generated asymmetric halo CME on July 23, 2017. Credit: NASA, ESA, STEREO, SOHO