The Sun Unleashes Powerful X-Class Solar Flare on Friday
Written by Reananda Hidayat PermonoCompleted Master of Science - MS, Petroleum Geology from Curtin University, Perth, Australia.
NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory captured video of the sun releasing a powerful X-class solar flare on March 3 (Friday) afternoon.
The intense solar flare erupted on Friday at 12:52 pm EST.
According to NASA, the dramatic event is registered as an X2.1, meaning it was pretty massive.
Scientists categorize flares into three categories: C (the weakest), M (medium-strength), and X (the most powerful).
NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory has studied the sun in detail since 2010.
According to the SpaceWeather.com website, a sunspot AR 3234 blasted out the solar flare.
Later, its radiation caused a shortwave radio blackout in North and South America.
Radio operators may have experienced signal loss at frequencies below 30 MHz for around an hour after the solar flare.
Powerful solar flares often have coronal mass ejections (CMEs), which send a huge amount of solar plasma into space.
These entities could bring geomagnetic storms here on Earth, impacting power grids and orbiting spacecraft.
Unusual auroras over the United States and Europe also occurred due to these strong geomagnetic storms.
The sun has been extremely active lately since it’s entering Solar Cycle.
Hence, it has been firing plenty of strong flares and CMEs.
We should witness more outbursts from the sun as it’s in an active phase.