Spots, Flares and Coronal Mass Ejections (X1.7, 1.4, 1.1)

Click on the images for larger/full field versions.

1024x1024 full-field: MDI, EIT 195 Å, EIT 304 Å. Full field MDI movies: QuickTime, MPEG (large, small). Subfield movies: MDI QuickTime MPEG (large, small), GIF animation. EIT 195 Å: MPEG. LASCO C3 full halo CMEs: QuickTime (large, small), MPEG (large, small). High resolution for print media: TIFF.

Caption: An active region hosting the largest sunspot group so far during this solar cycle, threw off an X1.7 flare on 29 March 2001. Associated with the flare (although most likely not from the sunspot itself) was an Earh-directed CME and an energetic particle event.

On 2 April, 2 additional X flares (X1.4 and X1.1) followed, with a surprisingly small effect in terms of energetic particles.

The images and movies above show the sunspot group and the flares as seen by MDI and EIT. The total area of the sunspot group was about thirteen times the surface of the Earth.

The LASCO movie shows 3 halo Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs), the first one was backsided, however, but the subsequent two were most likely related to AR9393, the active region with the large sunspot group.

Links:

• Today's Space Weather from SEC/NOAA.
• NASA press release
• SpaceWeather.com

Instruments: Michelson Doppler Imager (MDI); Extreme ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (EIT); Large Angle Spectrometric Coronagraph (LASCO);
Taken: 23-29 March 2001.
Picture credit: SOHO/MDI, SOHO/EIT, and SOHO/LASCO (ESA & NASA)