The sun just emitted the strongest solar flare in six years, which knocked out radio frequencies and could hit Earth in several days’ time, scientists warned.
“This is likely one of the largest solar radio events ever recorded,” NOAA wrote Thursday in a report regarding the flare, which is caused by localized explosions on the sun’s surface that expel intense bursts of electromagnetic radiation.
The alarming solar event occurred Thursday after an active sunspot named AR 3514 erupted with a large class X.28 solar flare — the most powerful variety that the sun is capable of producing, as seen in ominous photos captured by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory.
It was the most intense blast our star had generated since September 2017. This cataclysmic starburst generated a massive amount of radiation, causing a massive radio blackout in South America, which led to the disruption and even complete loss of radio signals for several hours. Meanwhile, several parts of the US were afflicted by shortwave radio blackouts.
Unfortunately, that’s just the tip of the geomagnetic iceberg.
At the same time, the sun produced a coronal mass ejection — a cloud-like expulsion of plasma and magnetic field from the outer layer of the star’s atmosphere — which scientists say could be heading for Earth.
If this is the case, we could be in for a geomagnetic storm as soon as December 17. These solar storms have the potential to damage satellites and cause a months-long blackout on Earth with damages in the billions of dollars.
According to a recent study, this geomagnetic event could even disrupt railway systems by switching train signals from red to green like something out of a Roland Emmerich apocalypse thriller.
The current solar cycle is stronger than expected, making disruptions like this more likely, but the NOAA forecasts an October 2024 peak, a year earlier than originally predicted.
