Sunspot 4341 erupted on Jan. 18th!

Sunspot 4341 erupted on Jan. 18th (1809 UTC), producing an X1.9-class solar flare. The explosion lasted for hours, which makes this flare even more powerful than its "X1.9" rating would suggest. NOAA says that a severe G4-class geomagnetic storm is possible on Jan. 20th when a CME is expected to slam into Earth's magnetic field. The CME was launched on Jan. 18th by an X1.9-class solar flare from sunspot 4341.
Researchers call this "a long duration flare." The explosion lasted for hours, which makes it even more powerful than its "X1.9" rating would suggest. Much of that power went into the CME now approaching Earth.
If NOAA's forecast is correct, the CME will strike during the early hours of Jan. 20th. In North America, that means the night of Jan. 19-20. A severe storm could spark auroras visible to the naked eye in at least a dozen northern-tier US states. Photographic auroras with colors visible only to cameras (and smartphones) could descend as far south as Arizona, Texas and southern California. (Spaceweather.com)

103mm Jagers refractor, Badder Planetarium safety prism, using neutral tensity and a solar continuum filter, Losmandy GM-8 mount. Cannon 60Da camera. 650 FL 12.5 mm eyepiece.