Spaceweather has the following information about it, saying it is the strongest CME to hit the Earth in decades.
A major geomagnetic storm is in progress following the impact of a CME on August 5th around 1800 UT.
Analysts at the Goddard Space Weather Lab say that the CME impact may have strongly compressed Earth's magnetic field, directly exposing satellites in geosynchronous orbit to solar wind plasma. Stay tuned for updates on this aspect of the storm.
The arriving CME left the sun on August 4th, propelled by an M9.3-category eruption in the magnetic canopy of sunspot 1261.
GEOMAGNETIC STORM: A geomagnetic storm is in progress. It began on August 5th around 1800 UT when a CME struck Earth's magnetic field. At its peak during the hours just after impact, the storm registered 8 on the 0 to 9 "K-index" scale of geomagnetic disturbances, making it one of the strongest magnetic storms in years. The subsiding storm will likely take many more hours to peter out, so high-latitude sky watchers should remain alert for auroras. Aurora alerts: text, voice.
NIGHT-TIME SOLAR RADIO BURST: The M9-class solar flare of August 4th produced a burst of shortwave static so powerful that receivers on Earth picked it up after sunset. "A RadioJove observer in Florida recorded the burst when the sun was 38 degrees below the horizon," reports amateur radio astronomer Thomas Ashcraft. Ashcraft's own radio telescope in New Mexico recorded the event 1 hour and 54 minutes after sunset:
Here is a graph showing the K index up to 8
Also to watch information about solar flares, this is a good overall site with information and charts.
Solarimg.
Video of CME hitting the Earth on Aug. 5th 2011 - the hit on the Earth is still ongoing as I post this. The pressure on the Earth and the weakened magnetic field, I would expect there to be some large 6+ quakes today and/or tomorrow.
From NOAA - about this geomagnetic storm - they had contacted FAA/electric companies do to the strength of this geomagnetic storm
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