Narrow Coronal Mass Ejection Linked to Solar Flare Erupts from Sun: Will It Impact Earth?

A narrow coronal mass ejection (CME) linked to a solar flare has erupted from the Sun, but it is expected to pass Earth without causing significant issues.

On July 1, an M2.1 solar flare and a coronal mass ejection were observed. (Image Credit: NASA/SDO/SOHO/LASCO/News9).

New Delhi: Recently, the Sun has been relatively calm, with the last major X-class flare occurring on June 10. However, a group of sunspots, known as AR 3730, erupted in an M2.1 flare, which was accompanied by a narrow CME. According to models, the hot gas from this eruption will pass Earth ahead of its orbit, meaning it won’t cause severe space weather or geomagnetic storms.

Solar flares are categorized using a scale that includes the letters A, B, C, M, and X. Each letter is paired with a number from 0 to 9.9, indicating the intensity of the flare. Each subsequent letter represents a flare ten times more intense than the previous one. Flares below B are considered close to the Sun’s background activity level.

Coronal mass ejections involve plasma from the Sun’s outer atmosphere, or corona, being violently expelled into space. This material carries the Sun’s magnetic field and can cause geomagnetic storms when it interacts with a planet’s magnetic field, potentially lasting for days or weeks. In May, multiple CMEs interacting and merging caused the most intense geomagnetic storm in 20 years.

Monster Sunspot Cluster Moves Out of View

The Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has predicted low solar activity for the next two days, with a chance of M-class flares. The massive sunspot cluster AR 3723, which was responsible for the historic May geomagnetic storm, the most intense solar radiation storm since 2017, and the most powerful solar flare in the current solar cycle, has now rotated out of view and no longer poses a threat to Earth.