Sun unleashes X-class solar flare, blasts 3rd coronal mass ejection toward Earth in a week (video)

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Sun unleashes X-class solar flare, blasts 3rd coronal mass ejection toward Earth in a week (video)

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Credit: Helioviewer.org

There are now three different coronal mass ejections (CMEs) heading toward our planet, which could mean increased opportunities this weekend to see the aurora across the northern U.S. and Europe.

CMEs are massive blasts of magnetic field and plasma that originate from

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from the sun, which can lead to powerful geomagnetic storms for us on Earth. These storms are what give skywatchers the chance to witness the stunning showcase of colors across the night sky known as

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Two CMEs were already Earth-bound from M-class solar flares that erupted on Wednesday (Aug. 7) and scientists at National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)’s Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) confirmed

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that another one originated from an X-class flare on Thursday (Aug. 8). These CMEs are timed up perfectly with the peak of the

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on Aug. 11 and 12, meaning skywatchers could potentially catch not one stunning celestial spectacle this weekend, but two.

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a diagram showing an image of the sun featuring a bright white spot, followed on the right by information about an upcoming geomagnetic storm watch for the weekend of august 10 through 12

X-class solar flares are the most powerful class of solar flares, and the X designation is followed by a number 1 through 9 that indicates their strength, with 9 being the highest.

Thursday’s blast from sunspot region AR3777 came in at a X1.3 and peaked around 3:35 p.m. EDT (1935 UTC). This was the strongest yet from this active region, and the flare resulted in disruptions to shortwave radio, producing a ********* across North America including the Hawaiian Islands,

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There are no speed limits for CMEs, in fact, Spaceweather.com

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that Thursday’s eruption surpassed 2.2 million mph (1,000 km/s)!

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an image of the fiery surface of the sun, with a bright white spot in the lower right corner of the sun’s disk

With the trio of CMEs forecast to arrive between now and the end of the weekend, a geomagnetic storm watch ******** in place through Sunday (Aug. 11). The current projection would be for a G2 (Moderate) solar storm but scientists will continue to monitor the impacts once the CMEs begin to arrive at

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The possibility for viewing the auroras of course will depend on local weather conditions, but SWPC forecasters suggest it could be visible for locations across the northern and upper Midwest ranging from New York to Idaho.

You can always check your specific location through NOAA’s

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or the experimental

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which continue to be updated.

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