God Hates Bush Alert - SEVERE SOLAR ACTIVITY: [View All]

http://www.spaceweather.com/

One of the most powerful solar flares in years, a remarkable X17-category explosion, erupted from sunspot 486 this morning at approximately 1110 UT. A strong solar radiation storm is in progress. (Click here to learn about the effects of such storms.) The explosion hurled a coronal mass ejection almost directly toward Earth, which could trigger bright auroras when it arrives perhaps as early as tonight.



Above: This SOHO coronagraph image captured at 12:18 UT shows the coronal mass ejection of Oct. 28th billowing directly toward Earth. Such clouds are called halo CMEs. The many speckles are solar protons striking the coronagraph's CCD camera.

Sky watchers should be alert for auroras tonight and tomorrow. High-latitude sites such as New Zealand, Scandinavia, Alaska, Canada and US northern border states from Maine to Washington are favored, as usual, but auroras could descend to lower latitudes when the CME described above sweeps past Earth.