2x CME events 04/05-12-09

SOHO C3 images on the 4th December show a Billion-Tonne CME being released from the Sun yesterday. Coronograph/STEREO cant confirm wether this CME was released from either of 2 unstable regions on the Suns far-side Surface, however this CME was unexpected.

Shortly after the intial blast Ive viewed the Public C3 gif images and have managed to see a lesser subsequent CME on the opposite (yet still far-far) surface of the Sun. The Suns rotation will bring the 2x active region into Earths view within the next few days, so watch this space.

www.spaceweather.com...

Auroral Oval is responding currently to the initial outer wave of the CME. the actual wave itself is still some 12-24 hours behind ahead of the main shock-wave trailing in-front.

portal.cssdp.ca:8080...

Oval has shifted south across the whole of the UK, a shame the CME protons havent impacted the Magnetosphere to induce a Aurora Display, but give another 24 hours and some magnificent displays could be seen further south than usual. As the CME was directed away from Earth this wont be a significant event however, we on Earth will just be feeling the trailing edge of both these CME eruptions.

Have to watch the magnetosphere later on.
www2.nict.go.jp...

Here is the CME, watch for the left as the right explodes... amazing power.

wow, that was huge! Pity it wasnt on this side of the sun, or we would be waiting for some tremendous Northern Lights right now.

Wow! I hope nothing bad comes out of the sun to the Earth as long as it takes.

Thanks for sharing, S&F

Wasn't there an alleged large piece of space junk threatening the ISS? The astronauts aboard the ISS went into their capsule then, and now today we have an CME event?

Is NASA somehow able to detect CME events before they happen?

Originally posted by star in a jar
Wasn't there an alleged large piece of space junk threatening the ISS? The astronauts aboard the ISS went into their capsule then, and now today we have an CME event?

Is NASA somehow able to detect CME events before they happen?

IF they can, then it would be intresting to see how the Launch of the Delta 4 plays out at KSC in the next 2 hours, carrying a Military Payload. I dont think any Space Agency with the best Supercomputer or minds in the buisness would be able to detect a CME, unless HAARP research has somehow detected "Harmonic-like" signatures which show impending signs of CME ejecta about to erupt from the Sun's surface.
Even then that data would be in its infancy.

Magnetosphere is coming alive here...
www2.nict.go.jp...

[edit on 5-12-2009 by komp_uk]

reply to post by komp_uk

The magnetosphere is responding to an increase in the solar wind produced by coronal holes.

The CMEs occured on the farside of the Sun and cannot affect us. Just more signs of the Sun "waking up" as he moves toward solar max in 2013.

Originally posted by star in a jar
Wasn't there an alleged large piece of space junk threatening the ISS? The astronauts aboard the ISS went into their capsule then, and now today we have an CME event?

Is NASA somehow able to detect CME events before they happen?

I like the way you think because I would have never put 2 and 2 together like that but I do think the space junk scare was just that and nothing more. If the events were related, the space crew would have still been in the escape pod. What really happened is there was a threat but NASA determined the threat was so low that it would not be worth waking the crew.

Does anybody have an estimate of the magnitude of this CME? Was it anywhere close to an X-class? If so, that would be very impressive and unexpected. Either way, it is nice to see the sun showing signs of life again.


/\ (looks like the CME)

reply to post by nydsdan

X-class refers to the strength (highest) of an x-ray burst produced by a solar flare, not the magnitude of a CME. I don't know if all CME's produce x-ray flares but I do know that x-ray flares can occur without CME's.

In any case, since these CMEs were on the farside of the Sun any x-rays produced went thataway. We don't have any sensors over there so there is no way of knowing the level of any x-ray activity.