A region of sunspots pointed almost directly at Earth has just emitted a major solar flare, which could cause havoc with power grids and communication networks over the next few days.
Several days ago, the sunspot area designated asAR3006 was first detected by NASA's Solar Dynamic Observatory, now it is located near the center of the sun.
SDO images show a spot near the region's center with the reverse magnetic polarity of the surrounding area. Major disruptions, called magnetic reconnections, can occur when the areas of differing polarity interact.
It seems that interaction has happened. An X 1.5 class flare erupted from AR3006 shortly before 9 a.m., according to a radio burst detected by Earth-orbiting satellites. The time is 1400 Universal Time on Tuesday. The experts told Live Science that the flare is impressive.
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The flare likely caused a coronal mass ejection that could impact Earth in the next few days.
There is a new type of solar wave.
According to NASA, there are five classes of solar flare. Each is 10 times more powerful than the previous class, and they are followed by a number from 1 to 9 that indicates their strength within that class.
The most powerful X-class flares from 2003 overwhelmed the sensors at a classification of X28.
The new solar flare was called "impressive" by Jan Janssens, a communications specialist at the Solar-Terrestrial Centre of excellence.
I am surprised by the strength of the flare, because it only concerned small sunspots, according to Janssens.
He said that the structure of mixed polarities means that the patch of sunspots has a higher chance of snapping and releasing gobs of energy into space.
Dean Pesnell, the project scientist for the Solar Dynamics Observatory, said that the mixed polarity of the region was not uncommon.
Pesnell told Live Science in an email that solar flares were more common in regions with complicated magnetic fields.
3 of 3 are images
The solar flare caused a burst of radio waves that indicate it was accompanied by a coronal mass ejection from the sun.
Billions of tons of stellar material are emitted at speeds of hundreds of miles a second, according to the Space Weather Prediction Center.
If the latest flare impacts Earth in the next few days, it could disrupt electricity grids and cause damage to satellites.
The sunspot region is pointing towards us at the moment, but the risk of disruption from the CME will decrease over the next few days as the sunspot rotates towards the western edge of the disk.
Pesnell said it was difficult and interesting to determine whether a CME would hit Earth. Pesnell said that the events were clues to how the solar dynamo works, rather than the actual mechanism.
He said that it was like trying to understand the water cycle on Earth by only looking at the cloud tops.
Sunspots are caused by magnetic changes in the sun's outer layer that expose the slightly cooler layer underneath. The biggest sunspots can be many times larger than average ones.
Sunspots and solar flares are the result of a longer 22-year cycle in the sun's magnetic fields, which is why they occur more frequently near the peaks of the 11-year solar activity cycle.
According to NASA, the sun's magnetic fields become tangled as it rotates in space about once every 27 days. At the peak of a solar cycle, the sun's fields become so tangled that the entire star suddenly reverses its magnetic poles.
When the magnetic fields are untangled again, sunspot activity goes down until there is no sunspot at the lowest point of the solar activity cycle.
It takes 22 years for the sun's magnetic fields to be the same as before.
Live Science reported that the activity of the sun is the same as it was in the last solar cycle, and even lower than it was before that.
We are currently in the ascending phase of Solar Cycle 25 and it is expected to peak in late 2024 or early 2025.
It was originally published on Live Science.
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