NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), which is in charge of constantly monitoring everything that happens on the surface of our star, captured the image of a moderate solar flare on the night of May 3 , the space agency said in their website.
The class X flare (because not all bursts are the same and are classified according to the energy they release , A being the least powerful class and X the most powerful class), the strongest produced by our star, was recorded by the SDO when it erupted from a sunspot to the lower left of the Sun, and the resulting energy release launched bursts of radiation (which we call solar flares) and explosive jets of solar material (which we know as coronal mass ejections, or CMEs).
This flame was classified as X1 . M-class flares are one class below the most intense, X-class flares (and the number determines how intense it is ; i.e., an X3-class flare is three times more powerful than an X1-class flare). This is the second flare of this force produced by the sun this week. It is also the third most powerful solar flare of 2022.
According to the Space Weather Prediction Center (SPWC), the electromagnetic radiation that bursts out during a solar flare can last anywhere from a few minutes to hours.
“Solar flares are powerful bursts of radiation. Harmful radiation from a flare cannot pass through Earth’s atmosphere to physically affect humans on the ground, however, when intense enough, it can disturb the atmosphere in the layer where GPS signals travel and communications,” NASA wrote on its Twitter account after the event.
Solar activity rises and falls on a roughly 11-year cycle, but has been especially high in recent months . So much so that it has even caused the downing of many Elon Musk Starlink satellites, it has caused radio blackouts and generated striking auroras in areas where they are not common, such as in Pennsylvania and Oregon in the United States.
According to experts, the most intense activity of the Sun could be when we are in an active phase of its solar cycle .
Reference: NASA SDO
