Sun activity: X flare-producing region still going strong

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Today’s top news: The producer of June 20’s X flare, AR3341, remains the focus of sun activity. Today it released two M flares: an M4.9 and M1.1. It is now moving into a geoeffective position over the next few days, so any coronal mass ejections (CMEs) from the region may come our way. We’ll keep a close eye on this region! Elsewhere on the sun, we have observed erupting filaments in the southeast, jets in the southwest, and a stable prominence on the northeast limb (edge) over the past day. Some of the action beyond the eastern limb hints at more regions rotating into view soon.

Last 24 hours: Sun activity continues at moderate levels. A total of 18 flares were observed between 11 UTC yesterday and 11 UTC today: two Ms and 16 C flares. The largest flare was an M4.9 at 23:44 UTC on June 22 from AR3341. AR3341 also produced an M1.1 flare at 11:21 UTC earlier that day. This region, which produced the recent X1.1 flare, was the lead flare producer of the past day with the two Ms plus five Cs. Each M flare produced an R1 (minor) radio blackout. The blackout from the M4.9 flare affected an area over the Pacific Ocean east of Hawaii, and the M1.1 flare affected an area over the Sahara desert and north coast of Africa. The sun currently has 10 numbered active regions, with no newcomers.

Next 24 hours: The forecast is a 99% chance for C flares, a 40% chance for M flares, and a 10% chance for X flares.

Next expected CME: No Earth-directed coronal mass ejections (CMEs) were observed in the available imagery.

Current geomagnetic activity: Earth’s magnetic field is quiet at the time of this writing (11 UTC on June 23) and is expected to continue at quiet to unsettled levels for the rest of the day today. There is a chance for an isolated G1 (minor) geomagnetic storm by the end of the day today into early tomorrow, June 24. Any disturbance will be from the possible arrival of a coronal mass ejection that was fired by the sun on June 20.

A red sun rotating over a black backgroundsun produced two M flares over the past day, with a coronal mass ejection (CME) from one of them. Details below. Two of the three coronal holes we reported yesterday, the ones on the southeast quadrant, are now geoffective, that is, capable of affecting Earth. So the fast solar wind they produce will come our way. Read about coronal holes as a source of the solar wind here.

Last 24 hours: Sun activity is now considered moderate. Of the past day’s two M flares, the largest was an M2.5 flare produced by sunspot AR3336 at 13:35 UTC on June 18, 2023. The second M happened at 3:50 UTC on June 19. It was an M1.4 from the sun’s southeast limb (edge), produced by an active region that’s just rotated into view and isn’t numbered yet. There were also 15 Cs, for a total of 17 flares produced during the past day. Lead flare producer of the day (11 UTC June 18 through 11 UTC June 19) was sunspot AR3335, with six C flares. After each M flare an R1 (minor) radio blackout was registered. The first was over the Atlantic Ocean, west of the Northern African coast. The second affected an area over an area on the east coast of China. The observable face of our sun shows eight labeled active regions today. We have a newcomer in the neighborhood, sunspot AR3340 which appeared on the sun’s northeast limb (edge).

Sun activity: A teal quarter of a circle animation showing sun explosions.