Solar activity is suddenly high again

 

SO FAR THE CMEs ARE MISSING EARTH: A fusillade of strong explosions from sunspot 4087 hurled multiple CMEs into space today.  So far none of the CMEs appears to be heading for Earth.  We are just outside the sunspot's strike zone.  This could change in the days ahead as the active region turns to face our planet. 

STRONG SOLAR ACTIVITY: After weeks of calm, solar activity is suddenly high again. The action started late yesterday with a surprising X1.2-class solar flare from the sun's western limb, followed today by an even stronger X2.7-flare from new sunspot 4087. Earth-orbiting satellites have detected four significant explosions so far:

Radiation from the flares has caused a series of shortwave radio blackouts around the world--first over the Americas, followed by southeast Asia, the Middle East and Africa. Ham radio operators may have noticed unusual propagation effects from stations in all directions since May 13th.

Most of this activity has come from new sunspot 4087, which emerged over the sun's northeastern limb 2 days ago. It is not yet facing Earth. If the explosions continue for a few more days, however, Earth will find itself squarely in the strike zone with geoeffective CMEs heading our way.