Current LASCO C2 and LASCO C3 - Second X-Class Flare in two days from Sunspot 1283
ANOTHER X-FLARE: Earth-orbiting satellites have detected another strong flare from sunspot 1283. The X1.8-class event at 2238 UT on Sept. 7th produced a bright flash of extreme UV radiation and hurled an inky-dark plume of plasma into space.
This is the third significant flare from sunspot 1283 since Sept. 6th. All three eruptions propelled CMEs in the general direction of Earth. Not one of the CMEs, however, will hit our planet squarely. Glancing blows from the three clouds will commence sometime on Sept. 9th and continue through Sept. 11th, possibly sparking minor geomagnetic storms.
X-flares of Solar Cycle 24: There have been only a handful of X-flares since the beginning of new Solar Cycle 24. Here is a complete list so far, all in 2011: Feb. 15 (X2), March 9 (X1), Aug. 9 (X7), Sept. 6 (X2), Sept. 7 (X2). Before these five, the previous X-flare occured on Dec.14, 2006, (X1) during old Solar Cycle 23.
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LASCO Large Angle and Spectrometric Coronagraph - Wikipedia, the free encyclopediahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LASCO_Large_Angle_and_Spectrometric_Coronagraph
The Large Angle and Spectrometric Coronagraph (LASCO) is one of a number of instruments aboard the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory satellite (SOHO). LASCO consists of three solar coronagraphs with nested fields of view.