(NASA) This weekend the Sun issued a reminder to anyone who might have forgotten that solar maximum is right around the corner. On Saturday, August 28 at 18:05 UTC, a major solar flare erupted from a complex sunspot group crossing the sun's southern hemisphere. The x-ray flux from the explosion registered more than 10-4 Watts per square meter on the GOES 8 satellite, placing the flare in the most powerful "X" category. A somewhat weaker "M" class flare erupted from the same
sunspot group on Friday, August 27.

Saturday's major solar flare was accompanied by a coronal mass ejection (CME), pictured above. The CME was not ejected directly toward Earth and experts predict that most of the mass will pass south of Earth's orbital plane. However, there is a chance that the outer edges of the disturbance will collide with our planet's magnetosphere around 12 UTC on August 31. There is no danger to satellites, power grids, or people, but there could be isolated episodes of intense auroral activity for 24 to 72 hours. Residents of high northern and southern latitudes are encouraged to watch for colorful auroral
displays. The best times to observe are prior to and near local midnight, before the bright gibbous Moon rises in the east.

The coronal mass ejection heading past Earth now is moving at about 600 km/s. That's not unusually fast as coronal mass ejections go. Previous CME's have been seen expanding away from the sun at speeds as high as 2000 km/s, and they can carry up to ten billion tons of plasma. When CME's collide directly with Earth they can excite geomagnetic storms, which have been linked to satellite communication failures. In extreme cases, such storms can induce electric currents in the earth
and oceans that can interfere with or even damage electric power transmission equipment.

Mitch Battros
Producer - Earth Changes TV
http://www.earthchangesTV.com