A whole lot of spots going on!
We no longer have the rumbling region AR11967 but the solar disk is covered with smaller regions and AR11974 is sitting at disk center popping of lots of small and medium-sized flares. It produced 4 M-flares in the last 24 hours. The flares are M1.7 (03:22 UT) and M1.8 (16:34 UT) on Feb. 11 and M3.7 (03:52 UT) and M2.3 (06:54 UT) on Feb. 12.
The region is 10+ Earths across as shown in this SDO/HMI visible light image.
Looking at the same area with the SDO/HMI magnetogram data, the region shows some magnetic complexity and should continue to give us moderate activity with the potential for M5 or greater flaring.
Enhanced aurora at high latitudes on February 14 and 15?
Multiple coronal mass ejections (CMEs) were observed over the past day. Two CMEs on Feb. 11 from an M1 flare and filament eruption have a potential arrival at Earth mid to late day on 14 Feb. An initial analysis of a halo CME associated with the M3.7 flare gave an estimated speed of ~740 km/s with an approximate arrival time at Earth early on February 15. Only minor geomagnetic activity with a G1 storm at most is expected but that could give high latitude aurora watchers a treat over the weekend.
credit: NASA/SDO/helioviewer/NOAA/solarmonitor.org
