Major farside coronal mass ejection (CME) and radiation storm
A spectacular full-halo coronal mass ejection (CME) erupted on the farside of the Sun on September 5, 2022. The source is Active Region 3088, which is expected to return to Earth’s view in about a week.
The CME is heading to Venus, with the impact expected today or tomorrow, September 8. This is the second significant CME to hit Venus within a week.
“This is no run-of-the-mill event,” says George Ho of the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab and the principal investigator for an energetic particle detector onboard Europe’s Solar Orbiter spacecraft.1 “Many science papers will be studying this for years to come.”
Interestingly, Solar Orbiter was near Venus at the time the first CME reached the planet and its ‘in situ’ instruments recorded a wealth of data and beamed it back to Earth.
“I can safely say the September 5th event is one of the largest (if not THE largest) Solar Energetic Particle (SEP) storms that we have seen so far since Solar Orbiter launched in 2020,” says Ho. “It is at least an order of magnitude stronger than the radiation storm from last week’s CME.”
“In fact, the >10 MeV and >50 MeV particle intensity has not subsided since the beginning of the storm yesterday,” adds Ho.
“This is indicative of a very fast and powerful interplanetary shock, and the inner heliosphere may be filled with these high-energy particles for a long time. I think I’ve only seen a couple of these in the last couple solar cycles.”
The source of the CME is most likely AR3088, which is expected to turn into Earth view in about a week.
References:
1 Major farside CME and radiation storm – SpaceWeather.com – September 7, 2022
Featured image credit: NASA/STEREO-A COR2
If you value what we do here, create your ad-free account and support our journalism.
Your support makes a difference
Dear valued reader,
We hope that our website has been a valuable resource for you.
The reality is that it takes a lot of time, effort, and resources to maintain and grow this website. We rely on the support of readers like you to keep providing high-quality content.
If you have found our website to be helpful, please consider making a contribution to help us continue to bring you the information you need. Your support means the world to us and helps us to keep doing what we love.
Support us by choosing your support level – Silver, Gold or Platinum.
Other support options include Patreon pledges, one-off payments using PayPal and purchasing products from our webshop.
Thank you for your consideration. Your support is greatly appreciated.
Sincerely,
Teo Blašković
Commenting rules and guidelines
We value the thoughts and opinions of our readers and welcome healthy discussions on our website. In order to maintain a respectful and positive community, we ask that all commenters follow these rules:
We reserve the right to remove any comments that violate these rules. By commenting on our website, you agree to abide by these guidelines. Thank you for helping to create a positive and welcoming environment for all.