Posted on 04/14/2010 1:44:22 PM PDT by TaraP
One of the biggest prominences in years erupted from the sun's northwestern limb yesterday. The massive plasma-filled structure rose up and burst during a ~2 hour period around 0900 UT on April 13th. Observers in Europe had a great view:
Updated: The eruption hurled a bright coronal mass ejection (CME, movie) into space. The expanding cloud could deliver a glancing blow to Earth's magnetic field around April 15th. NOAA forecasters estimate a 35% chance of polar geomagnetic activity when the CME arrives.
Would you like fries with that?
We had a good display for about an hour," says photographer 'JTbo' of Saarijarvi, Finland. "This spring has been something special as the auroras seem to be very strong." They could become stronger in the nights ahead. A coronal mass ejection (movie) blasted into space by an erupting prominence on April 13th could deliver a glancing blow to Earth's magnetic field on or about April 17th. (Note: This supercedes earlier estimates of an April 15th arrival.) High-latitude sky watchers should remain alert for auroras.
Just posted this thread. When I saw it on Drudge, it made me think of the CME we discussed yesterday. Don’t know if they are related or not.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2493768/posts
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