Sunspot AR 1515 Strikes Again

Solar physicists operating the NASA Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) announce that Active Region (AR) 1515, a sunspot that has been acting up for the past week or so, has just produced a new solar flare, an M6.9-class event.

The flare began at 12:23 pm EDT (1623 GMT) on Monday, July 9, and peaked at 12:32 pm EDT (1632 GMT). This is the fourth large event of this type that AR 1515 produced since it captured astronomers' attention, starting July 2.

At that time, the Sun produced an M5.6-class solar flare, which was accompanied by the release of a coronal mass ejection from a different sunspot. Two days later, on July 4, the star released an M5.3-class flare, which was swiftly followed by an X1.1-class event on July 6.

Astronomers say that the sunspot will likely continue to produce solar flares for a while, possibly in the same intensity range. Experts say that X-class solar flares are the most intense the Sun is capable of producing. M-class events are somewhat less intense, while C-class ones are the most common.

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Via: Sunspot AR 1515 Strikes Again