Sun Released a Strong X-class Solar Flare, Causing a Rare ‘Solar Tsunami’
Written by Reananda Hidayat PermonoCompleted Master of Science - MS, Petroleum Geology from Curtin University, Perth, Australia.
The sun released an X-class solar flare, the most potent energy sun can emit, that triggered a rare ‘solar tsunami’ across the sun’s surface.
It also released an intense burst of radiation that impacted radio blackouts on Earth.
Interestingly, a radio astronomer could capture the rare sound of the solar storm slamming the Earth’s atmosphere.
The spaceweather.com website recorded an X-class solar flare on Feb. 17.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) had forecasted a slight chance of an X-class solar flare on that day.
But it believed the threat would come from a large sunspot AR3226.
Hence, astronomers were caught off guard by the blast from a sunspot AR3229 instead, with a magnitude of 2.2.
A solar tsunami is a giant wave of hot plasma that can accelerate up to 901,000 km/h (560,000 mph) across the photosphere.
According to NASA, it can reach heights of 100,000 km (62,150 miles).
The solar flare spat out a Type II solar radio burst that hit Earth shortly after the outburst.
There are five categories of solar radio bursts; Type V is the strongest, and Type I is the weakest.
The radiation caused minor radio blackouts across some parts of the Americas for an hour.
Solar flares are divided into classes of A, B, C, M, and X; each type is ten times more powerful than the previous one.