A newly emerging sunspot is beginning to reveal its presence, triggering a powerful Class X solar flare that has caused a shortwave radio outage in the South Pacific Ocean.
NASA’s Heliodynamics Observatory recorded a phenomenal number solar eruption Thursday (January 5) at 7:45 PM EST (0045 GMT on January 6). The blast blew away a glowing dome of plasma that lingered above sunspot AR3182 for more than an hour, according to Spaceweather.com (Opens in a new tab). Because the sunThe roaring sunspot will soon encounter Earth and may continue its explosive activity for days to come.
Solar flares are classified by size in groups of letters, with class X being the most powerful. Within each category, numbers 1 through 10 (and onwards, for Class X flares) indicate the relative strength of the glow. The latest missile reached X1.2, which is a relatively weak example of the most powerful class.
AR3182 has also been linked to Violent explosion On Tuesday (January 3), who sent prof Coronal mass ejection (CME), a giant cloud of magnetized plasma, is rolling through space. At the time, the sunspot was hidden on the far side of the Sun, so the flare posed no danger to us a land.
Related: A giant cloud of plasma is emanating from the Sun, but fortunately it will not reach Earth
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Solar flares occur when magnetic energy builds up in the solar atmosphere and is released in an intense wave of electromagnetic radiation. More powerful M- and X-class flares can cause slight and widespread radio dimming on the side of Earth facing the Sun at the time of the flare.
This is exactly what happened when a recent X1.2 solar flare sent a powerful pulse of X-rays and intense ultraviolet light toward Earth. Traveling at the speed of light, the radiation reached Earth in just over eight minutes and ionized the upper layer of Earth Earth’s atmosphere Thermosphere – resulting in shortwave radio outages in the South Pacific.
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According to Spaceweather.com, none of the large clumps of paper have yet been seen to emerge from the area after the massive eruption.
Solar activity is on the rise as part of solar cycle 25, which scientists expect to peak in 2025. To see if there is a solar flare today and keep up to date space climate Discoveries, visit the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration website Space Weather Prediction Center (Opens in a new tab) To see the latest solar X-ray data from the agency’s GOES weather satellites floating over the eastern and western United States
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