Here Come's The Sun

Space Weather News ^ | Nov. 2, 2003 | Space Weather News

[Barnacle]

Another remarkable solar flare has erupted from giant sunspot 486--an X8-class blast at 1725 UT on Nov. 2nd. Because the sunspot is nearing the sun's western limb, this explosion was not aimed squarely at Earth. Even so, a coronal mass ejection (CME) is heading our way. Auroras could appear on Nov. 3rd or 4th when the fast-moving cloud delivers a glancing blow to Earth's magnetic field. Visit spaceweather.com for more information and images.

[Davea]

BTW Spaceweather.com said this could be the largest recorded. They will be updating. Here's the list so far but I think this one may be in a class all its own. They're running out of the alphabet... http://spaceweather.com/solarflares/topflares.html
http://www.spaceweather.com

[Davea]

Rumor has it that CNN just said this event is unprecedented. I'll check to verify.

[Davea]

Here's some info on thishttp://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/hotshots/2003_11_04/

[Barnacle]

Thanks for the good links. I couldn't believe my eyes when I paid a random visit to the GOES site and saw the CME in progress.

Sunspot 486 has truly made astronomical history.