Major M7,3 Solar Flare & CME - Impressive Prominence Eruption

PARTING SHOT: Departing sunspot complex AR2172-AR2173 erupted on Oct. 2nd around 1915 UT, producing an M7-class solar flare. NASA Solar Dynamics Observatory photographed a massive plume of debris flying away from the blast site:

A flash of UV radiation from the flare ionized the top of Earth’s atmosphere, briefly disturbing the normal propagation of shortwave and VLF radio signals on the dayside of Earth. Otherwise there should be few Earth-effects from this eruption. Perched on the sun’s western limb, the instigating sunspot group is not facing our planet and most of the explosion’s debris should sail wide of Earth. http://spaceweather.com/

Prominence Eruption
Attached video below by the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) captures an impressive prominence eruption early Thursday morning off the east limb. The event generated a coronal mass ejection (CME), now visible in the latest coronagraph imagery. Because this was a limb event, the plasma cloud is directed away from our planet. Still a great looking eruption! http://www.solarham.net/

Image credit: NOAA/SWPC