May 8 2012 Sunspot 1476 Poses Threat for Strong Class M Solar Flares HD

 
Magnetic storm alerts.


Sunspot AR1471 erupted on May 7th, producing an M1-class solar flare and an Earth-directed coronal mass ejection (CME). According to a forecast track prepared by analysts at the Goddard Space Weather lab, the cloud will reach Earth on May 9th at 13:40 UT (+/- 7 hours).

X-ray Solar Flares
6-hr max: C7 1726 UT May07
24-hr: M1 1431 UT May07
6-hr max: C1 0836 UT May08
24-hr: C1 0836 UT May08


Interplanetary Magnetic Field
Btotal: 5.7 nT
Bz: 1.5 nT south
During the years around solar maximum (2000 and 2001 are good examples) spots pepper the face of the Sun. Sunspots are places where intense magnetic loops -- hundreds of times stronger than the ambient dipole field -- poke through the photosphere. Sunspot magnetic fields overwhelm the underlying dipole; as a result, the Sun's magnetic field near the surface of the star becomes tangled and complicated.
NASA/NOAA Spaceweather