KaBOOM! X1.5 flare & sun stuff on the way

The sun released an X1.5 solar flare early this morning (2:33 UTC on July 29). This flare, along with many of the M flares over the past two days, has a coronal mass ejection (CME) associated with it. CMEs from July 27 and July 28, mentioned in the video below, created a cannibal CME, which is expected to reach Earth on July 31-August 1. We await the space weather forecaster analysis of the CMEs for the past 24 hours, but there are more than likely a few more on the way to Earth’s vicinity. With all of these CMEs and their resulting (expected) geomagnetic storms, it’s a good time to get ready for some aurora-watching. This is certainly true for higher latitudes, but it could also be true for northern-tier U.S. states. Stay tuned for aurora forecast updates.