Sun’s activity moderates after the excitement of the X-flare explosion

Science: After the excitement of the X flare eruption on October 31 – and a list of M flares yesterday – the Sun’s activity has moderated. We had four relatively mild M flares over the past day. We were also keeping an eye on potential Earth-directed coronal mass ejections (CMEs) from the X2.0 and M flares on October 31 and November 1, but none were observed. But energetic protons from those events reached us on Earth, resulting in an approximately S1 (minor) radiation storm and a shortwave blackout over Earth’s south pole.

Last 24 hours: Four M (moderate) flares kept the Sun’s activity moderate over the past day. Between 11 UTC yesterday and 11 UTC today, we observed a total of 11 flares. The largest flare of this period was an M2.0 flare produced by the active region AR3878 in the northeast at 14:31 UTC on November 1. The main flare-producing sunspot region of this period was AR3876, which had four flares. Currently, 11 numbered active regions adorn the Earth-facing side of our star. There is a newcomer numbered AR3881 in the southeast quadrant of the Sun. Here is a list of M flares of the past 24 hours:

M1.3 from AR3876 at 12:52 UTC on 1 November. R1 (minor) radio blackout over the Atlantic Ocean.

M2.0 from AR3878 at 14:31 UTC on 1 November. R1 (minor) radio blackout over the east coast of Brazil. The largest.

M1.0 from AR3869 at 7:38 UTC on 2 November. R1 (minor) radio blackout over the Indian Ocean. M1.2 from AR3876 at 8:31 UTC on 2 November. R1 (minor) radio blackout over the Indian Ocean off the east coast of Madagascar.