X2 flare - the size, even at this early stage, compared to our little Earth.- 9.1.23

Earth-orbiting satellites have just detected an X1.9-class solar flare (Jan. 9th @ 1850 UT). The source is hyperactive sunspot AR3184, now emerging over the sun's southeastern limb. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) recorded the flare's extreme ultraviolet flash.

Radiation ionized the top of Earth's atmosphere, causing a shortwave radio blackout centered on the Pacific side of South America: blackout map. Mariners, aviators and ham radio operators may have noticed fadeouts and other unusual propagation effects at frequencies below ~25 MHz.

This was an impulsive solar flare--intense but probably too brief to lift a coronal mass ejection (CME) out of the sun's atmosphere. It is too soon, however, to rule out the possibility of debris heading our way. Pending data from SOHO coronagraphs will reveal any CMEs in the hours ahead.

Meanwhile, it is interesting to zoom out and see what the whole sun did around the time of the X-flare. SDO recorded 5 rapidfire eruptions.

Going off like popcorn, these five sites erupted in a time window shorter than 90 minutes despite some of them being separated by as much as a million kilometers. Researchers discovered long ago that magnetic instabilities can ignite nearly simultaneous explosions across the entire face of the sun. This appears to be such a case.

The collective effect of these disturbances may yet send a CME our way.
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