Early on June 7, 2011, the Sun once again showed signs of waking up from the last solar minimum: it unleashed a powerful solar flare. The x-ray emission from this flare can be seen in Wolfram|Alpha:
The Solar Dynamics Observatory is orbiting the Earth, studying the Sun in detail.
It was able to observe the event in extreme ultraviolet wavelengths. The following YouTube movie shows this event unfolding:
Although this event was not directly aimed at Earth, it’s possible it will weakly affect the Earth’s magnetosphere sometime on June 8 or 9 when it arrives and delivers a glancing blow. Any effects such as auroras would likely be confined to higher latitudes, near the poles.
Check out other space weather data details using Wolfram|Alpha:
