A significant solar flare with an X2.2 rating erupted from Active Region 3912 on December 8, 2024, at 09:06 UTC. The event was associated with a Type II Radio Emission and a coronal mass ejection (CME), indicating potential radio noise interference.
The flare’s impact is expected to be most severe over the Southwest Indian Ocean due to its Earth-directed nature. However, forecasters suggest that any significant effects may be minimal or occur as early as December 11 in a glancing blow scenario. This could potentially interact with a positive polarity coronal hole high-speed stream (CH HSS).
This solar flare is notable due to Region 3912’s “beta-gamma” magnetic configuration, which can produce stronger eruptions on the Sun. Unfortunately, this event occurred without high-quality images from the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), as severe flooding damaged the lab housing essential data processing machines.
The Stanford JSOC team is working to recover and restore data processing capabilities, but the process may take time. Scientists like myself closely monitor space weather events to provide accurate information to the public.
Note: The Stanford Joint Science Operations Center (JSOC) suffered a major flood due to a 4-inch pipe break, disrupting their ability to access archived data from instruments such as HMI and AIA.
Source: https://watchers.news/2024/12/08/impulsive-x2-2-solar-flare-erupts-from-region-3912