M-Class flare and following Post-Flare loops! Beautiful!!

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DeepSolar64
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M-Class flare and following Post-Flare loops! Beautiful!!

Post by DeepSolar64 »

Session time from 17:00 until 19:00 UTC. Skies are clear with just below average seeing. The temperature is 75F ( 23.8C ) at 18:30 UTC.


Coronado SolarMax II 60 SS. 16x, 21.5x, 25x, 33x and 50x ( Ha )
At 17:00 UT I got an alert on my SpaceweatherLive app warning of an ongoing M-class solar flare. I had only taken down my SolarMax 90 about 20 minutes earlier. I cursed a bit then quickly grabbed the smaller SMII60 and whisked it outside hoping to catch the flare as the SDO data showed it on the NW limb. Looking through the scope I saw no trace of the flare itself! Even GONG Ha images hardly show it at all. However SDO easily picked it up. However I could see a bright but small set of prominences being quickly ejected from the site. These within a few minutes started showing structure and developed into a beautiful and easy to see set of post-flare loops. I was delighted! They are absolutely beautiful to behold with their graceful curving shapes. The tops of the loops are brighter than the lower extremities but they are still not difficult to see. They actually look better in the scope than what the GONG images show. If they would have happened an half hour earlier I would have gotten an even better view in the SMII90. But I still was not disappointed. In the SDO images the loops are simply stunning. I hope someone here caught them today.

Here's the image data.



SDOAIA131_11-9-21.jpg
SDOAIA131_11-9-21.jpg (1.04 MiB) Viewed 469 times
M2.01Flare_17.01UT_11-9-21.JPG
M2.01Flare_17.01UT_11-9-21.JPG (40.57 KiB) Viewed 469 times
Capture3_SDOAIA171_PostFlareLoops_11-9-21.JPG
Capture3_SDOAIA171_PostFlareLoops_11-9-21.JPG (52.55 KiB) Viewed 469 times
2021_11_09_19_31_17_AIA_171__AIA_304-1.png
2021_11_09_19_31_17_AIA_171__AIA_304-1.png (424.63 KiB) Viewed 469 times
GONGCerroTololoHa_11-9-21.jpg
GONGCerroTololoHa_11-9-21.jpg (504.71 KiB) Viewed 466 times

Goodnight.

James


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Re: M-Class flare and following Post-Flare loops! Beautiful!!

Post by marktownley »

Thanks for the update James, I hope the sun is this busy when I finally get some decent weather.


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Re: M-Class flare and following Post-Flare loops! Beautiful!!

Post by DeepSolar64 »

marktownley wrote: Wed Nov 10, 2021 6:30 am Thanks for the update James, I hope the sun is this busy when I finally get some decent weather.

You are welcome. Those loops were really pretty.


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Re: M-Class flare and following Post-Flare loops! Beautiful!!

Post by EGRAY_OBSERVATORY »

Thanks James and this flare actually affected Earth communications, so was certainly very powerful, even though was the other-side of the limb.

Cheers
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Re: M-Class flare and following Post-Flare loops! Beautiful!!

Post by MAURITS »

Great discription James.


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Re: M-Class flare and following Post-Flare loops! Beautiful!!

Post by Carbon60 »

Darn these grey skies…..

Thanks for showing us what we’re missing, James.

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Re: M-Class flare and following Post-Flare loops! Beautiful!!

Post by torsinadoc »

Nice report and thanks for sharing. I watched the videos on SDO and gong. I hope to see one in the future


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Re: M-Class flare and following Post-Flare loops! Beautiful!!

Post by ffellah »

Thank you, James, for the report. Those loops are magnificent.

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Re: M-Class flare and following Post-Flare loops! Beautiful!!

Post by Montana »

I am so happy for you James, I've only ever seen them about twice before through the PSTs, I would love to see them through the 100mm Solarscope or even in the SolarSpectrum. May be one day :)

:hamster:
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Re: M-Class flare and following Post-Flare loops! Beautiful!!

Post by DeepSolar64 »

Thanks everyone for your replies and comments. I am glad I got the event. It looks like I may have been the only one at the time to see it. Now I am waiting for an X Class flare!!

https://helioviewer.org/?movieId=xtWN5


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Re: M-Class flare and following Post-Flare loops! Beautiful!!

Post by Ivan »

Congratulations James! I also saw the alert in the app, but at this time we had a clear dark evening :)

Ivan


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Re: M-Class flare and following Post-Flare loops! Beautiful!!

Post by DeepSolar64 »

Yep. Dark means virtual viewing only.


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Re: M-Class flare and following Post-Flare loops! Beautiful!!

Post by MapleRidge »

Congrats on being able to catch the post flare loops...rare sight but you were prepared and went out when you got the notice.

Brian


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Re: M-Class flare and following Post-Flare loops! Beautiful!!

Post by DeepSolar64 »

MapleRidge wrote: Thu Nov 11, 2021 5:58 pm Congrats on being able to catch the post flare loops...rare sight but you were prepared and went out when you got the notice.

Brian

Yep, I was available to do so at the time. It payed off.


2021_11_09_20_57_10_AIA_171__AIA_304.png
2021_11_09_20_57_10_AIA_171__AIA_304.png (1.05 MiB) Viewed 341 times


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Re: M-Class flare and following Post-Flare loops! Beautiful!!

Post by Tigger »

Hi James,

Beautiful images and well done for catching them. Excuse my ignorance, but what is SDO?

John


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Re: M-Class flare and following Post-Flare loops! Beautiful!!

Post by DeepSolar64 »

John,
The SDO is NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory in Earth orbit. It images the Sun almost continuously in wavelengths from continuum all the way down into the extreme ultraviolet. It’s NASA’s premier solar observatory.

James.


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