An ultraviolet image of the solar flare captured by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (Credits: NASA).
The graphic below shows the forecasted path of a M9 class solar flare that erupted from the sun on January 23. The flare is just short of an X-class rating, the most hazardous solar flare categorization which can cause planet-wide radio blackouts and lasting radiation storms. M-class flares are smaller in size and can cause brief radio blackouts and smaller radiation storms.
The leading edge of the 2200 km/s storm is due to reach Earth on January 24. It could affect orbiting spacecraft and induce geomagnetic storms, along with spectacular but innocuous polar aurorae.
![A trajectory analysis that used a computational fluid dynamics approach to determine the likely position and velocity histories of the foam (Credits: NASA Ref [1] p61).](https://www.spacesafetymagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/fluid-dynamics-trajectory-analysis-50x50.jpg)
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