STRONG X-CLASS SOLAR FLARE

A BIG CME IS COMING: Ths morning's X1-class solar flare hurled a bright CME directly toward Earth. G1-class Minor, to G3-class Strong, geomagnetic storms are possible when it arrives on March 25th or 26th. Stay tuned for an updated analysis. Aurora

STRONG X-CLASS SOLAR FLARE.

The sun just produced a solar flare so strong, it took two sunspots to make it. The long-duration X1.1 class flare started on March 23rd around 01:30 UT when both AR3614 and AR3615 erupted. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory recorded the double blast.

This is called a "sympathetic solar flare." Sympathetic flares are pairs of flares that occur almost simultaneously in widely-spaced sunspots, not by chance, but because of an unseen physical connection. Nearly-invisible magnetic loops in the sun's corona connect some sunspots, allowing explosive instabilities to travel from one to the other. Some sympathetic flares are so much alike, they are considered to be twins.

Updated, This X-class event lasted for more than 5 hours, plenty of time to lift a CME out of the sun's atmosphere. Indeed, SOHO coronagraphs have detected a bright halo CME heading directly for Earth. This is going to cause a geomagnetic storm when it arrives, probably on March 25th.

spaceweather dot com

STAY TUNED FOR FURTHER UPDATES, BE PREPARED FOR MAJOR EARTHQUAKES.