Incoming! Three CME coronal mass ejections on their way: solar magnetic storm imminent

Danger, protons , three CME !

Update
http://img638.imageshack.us/img638/422/2011fa.jpg
and
http://daltonsminima.altervista.org/?p=15437
H/T Michele Casati

Image courtesy of spaceweather.com

STRONG SOLAR ACTIVITY: For the third day in a row, active sunspot 1261 has unleashed a strong M-class solar flare. The latest blast at 0357 UT on August 4th registered M9.3 on the Richter Scale of Flares, almost crossing the threshold into X-territory (X-flares are the most powerful kind). The number of energetic protons around Earth has jumped nearly 100-fold as a result of this event. Stay tuned for updates.

INCOMING CLOUDS: At least two coronal mass ejections (CMEs) are now en route to Earth, propelled toward us by eruptions in the magnetic canopy of sunspot 1261 on August 2nd and 3rd. Analysts at the GSFC Space Weather Lab have just produced a new 3-D model of the advancing CMEs.

According to the model, Earth’s magnetic field will receive a double-strike from the clouds on August 4th at 22:39 UT plus minus 7 hours. Mild to moderate geomagnetic storms are possible when the CMEs arrive.

More at http://spaceweather.com/

You probably don’t need to lock up your lappy in a MuMetal box this time, but watch out for data glitches and disrupted comms packets. 🙂