(Forbes) – sun-watching satellites spotted the most powerful solar flare in more than three years on Sunday. The solar explosion was measured as an M4.4 flare.
Solar flares are categorized as small C-class flares, medium-sized M flares, and major X-class flares. Each class also has subcategories from 1 to 9, so an M9 flare is stronger than an M4. Flares send out a massive burst of electromagnetic radiation that can cause radio blackouts, sometimes across the entire planet in the case of powerful X-class flares. M-class flares like Sunday’s usually create only limited disruptions on Earth.
Astronomer Dr. Tony Phillips reports at Spaceweather.com that: “X-rays and UV radiation from the flare ionized the top of Earth’s atmosphere, producing a shortwave radio blackout over the South Atlantic… Ham radio operators and mariners may have noticed strange propagation effects at frequencies below 20 MHz, with some transmissions below 10 MHz completely extinguished.”
But Phillips notes that the flare and an associated coronal mass ejection were not directed at Earth, but rather erupted from just behind the sun’s southeastern limb. “As a result, the explosion was partially eclipsed by the body of the sun. It might have been an X-class event.”
Sunday’s flare is just part of the beginning of a new solar cycle (Solar Cycle 25, to be exact), which officially began in December 2019, although that milestone was not announced until mid-September as it can take a while to determine. What this means is that we can expect a period of increasing activity and explosive sunspots until roughly mid-2025. READ MORE
