Complex Solar Eruption
On August 1, 2010 around 0855 UT, Earth orbiting satellites detected a C3-class solar flare. The origin of the blast was sunspot 1092. At about the same time, an enormous magnetic filament stretching across the sun’s northern hemisphere erupted. NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory recorded the action.
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/videogallery/index.html?collection_id=13587&media_id=16939864
Nasa scientists braced for ‘solar tsunami’ to hit earth
The earth could be hit by a wave of violent space weather as early as Tuesday after a massive explosion of the sun, scientists have warned.
Sunspot 1092 may combine with a large filament of cool gas stretching across the sun’s northern hemisphere to produce interference with communication systems on Earth Photo: NASA The solar fireworks at the weekend were recorded by several satellites, including Nasa’s new Solar Dynamics Observatory which watched its shock wave rippling outwards.
Astronomers from all over the world witnessed the huge flare above a giant sunspot the size of the Earth, which they linked to an even larger eruption across the surface of Sun.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/space/7923069/Nasa-scientists-braced-for-solar-tsunami-to-hit-earth.html