First M-class solar flare of a Solar Cycle 25 region!

Friday, 29 May 2020 12:01 UTC

First M-class solar flare of a Solar Cycle 25 region!

925 days. That is the amount of time we had to wait since we last saw a M-class solar flare on the Sun. But today the wait is over. An impulsive M1.19 solar flare (minor R1 radio blackout) took place on our Sun this morning peaking at 07:24 UTC. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory seems to have taken a break from its sun-watching duty for some reason but STEREO Ahead captured the impulsive eruption confirming it comes from a sunspot region near the east limb from Earth's point of view. This sunspot region very likely belongs to Solar Cycle 25 due to its high latitude and it could even be the first M-class solar flare of Solar Cycle 25 depending on if we have passed solar minimum or not.

The solar flare was of a very short duration (which we call an impulsive event) but did produce a nice little coronal wave as you can see on the images made by STEREO Ahead featured in the tweet above. A small coronal mass ejection became visible on the SOHO/LASCO coronagraph following the M-class event but due to the location of the eruption, it is of course not aimed at Earth.

This M-class solar flares was followed by a near M-class event at 10:46 UTC peaking at C9.3. Interesting times and possibly a historic moment if this indeed is the first M-class event of the new Solar Cycle.

Thank you for reading this article! Did you have any trouble with the technical terms used in this article? Our help section is the place to be where you can find in-depth articles, a FAQ and a list with common abbreviations. Still puzzled? Just post on our forum where we will help you the best we can! Never want to miss out on a space weather event or one of our news articles again? Subscribe to our mailing list, follow us on Twitter and Facebook and download the SpaceWeatherLive app for Android and iOS!

Currently there's no noteworthy space weather

Support SpaceWeatherLive.com!

A lot of people come to SpaceWeatherLive to follow the Solar activity or if there is a chance to see the aurora, but with more traffic comes higher costs to keep the servers online. If you like SpaceWeatherLive and want to support the project you can choose a subscription for an ad-free site or consider a donation. With your help we can keep SpaceWeatherLive online!

No Ads on SWL Pro!
No Ads on SWL Pro! Subscriptions
Donations
Support SpaceWeatherLive.com! Donate
Support SpaceWeatherLive with our merchandise
Check out our merchandise

Latest alerts

No significant space weather happened in the past 48 hours...
Get instant alerts!

Space weather facts

Last X-flare2025/06/19X1.9
Last M-flare2025/08/12M1.8
Last geomagnetic storm2025/08/09Kp6 (G2)
Spotless days
Last spotless day2022/06/08
Monthly mean Sunspot Number
July 2025125.6 +9.3
August 2025137.5 +11.9
Last 30 days132.6 +19.6

This day in history*

Solar flares
11998X7.03
21998X4.03
32004X2.6
42012M7.99
52002M3.4
DstG
12003-148G3
21970-98G2
31959-88G1
41958-76G1
51960-76G1
*since 1994

Social networks