X1 Flare Earth Bound March 5 2012 HD

Solar activity is now high. Big sunspot AR1429, which emerged on March 2nd, is crackling with strong flares. The strongest so far, an X1-class eruption, occured just ths morning, March 5th at 0413 UT. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory recorded the extreme ultraviolet flash:

The explosion also hurled a bright coronal mass ejection (CME) into space The expanding cloud will probably deliver a glancing blow to Earth's magnetic field on March 6th or 7th. High-latitude sky watchers should be alert for auroras in the nights ahead.