Active sunspot 1121 has just unleashed one of the brightest x-ray solar flares in years, an M5.4-class eruption at 15:36 UT on Nov. 6th. Click here to view a movie of the blast from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory:

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© NASA Solar Dynamics Observatory
Radiation from the flare created a wave of ionization in Earth's upper atmosphere that altered the propagation of low-frequency radio waves. There was, however, no bright CME (plasma cloud) hurled in our direction, so the event is unlikely to produce auroras in the nights ahead. This is the third M-flare in as many days, and the strongest, from this increasingly active sunspot. So far none of the eruptions has been squarely Earth-directed, but this could change in the days ahead as the sun's rotation turns the active region toward our planet. Now might be a good time to sign up for space weather alerts.

More images: from Thomas Ashcraft near Santa Fe, New Mexico; from Rogerio Marcon of Campinas SP Brasil; from Robert Arnold of Isle of Skye, Scotland; from James Kevin Ty of Manila, the Philippines