Powerful solar flares were seen by space weather observers between Aug. 27 and Aug. 29. The strongest of these was an M8-class flare. The M-class flare that came from sunspot AR3088 caused a blackout in certain parts of the US. Although the flare brings the aurora borealis, scientists think that a large sunspot that produces an M-class flare is dangerous to Earth.
Solar Flare Causes Blackout and Aurora Borealis
The sun's sunspot AR3088 produced an M4-class flare on Saturday, Aug. 27. The passing storm might cause G1-class geomagnetic storms to develop on Aug. 28 and last until Aug. 29, according to EarthSky. High solar activity was seen in the days before. On Sunday (Aug. 28), the same sunspot unleashed an M6.7-class flare that caused radio blackouts over much of North America, according to the website.
The NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center issued an M1 (small) geomagnetic storm warning for Monday in response to the Saturday flare. Satellite operations, electrical grids, and animal migration patterns may all have only modest effects from a storm of this strength.
Because of how the coronal mass ejection (CME) that results from the flare interacts with Earth's atmosphere, skywatchers in the Northern Hemisphere have been treated to dazzling auroras. As far south as Scotland, Alberta, and Montana, auroras could be seen.
Sunspot AR3089
Sunspots are big, dark areas on the sun's surface with strong magnetic fields. According to Space.com, these zones appear darker because they are cooler than their surroundings. In most cases, these regions are as wide as planets. They develop where the magnetic field bands of the sun become tangled and taut, preventing the outpouring of hot gas from the sun's interior and creating cooler, darker regions on the surface. Often, these magnetic energy buildups result in solar flares. Solar flares are more likely to occur when there are more sunspots on the sun at one moment.
The explosion site may be the source of a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME), according to astronomers. However, as of the moment, neither ground telescopes nor space-based observatories have reported any sightings.
A few days ago, the sunspot AR3085 was hardly noticeable. Yet according to Live Science, scientists say that it has now expanded by ten times and changed into two sunspots that are about the same size.
Skywatchers said that a sunspot grew unstable and erupted, hurling debris through the atmosphere and creating a canyon of fire on the sun. Near sunspot AR3089, the magnetic filament began to take shape.
The magnetic filament exploded and its debris sliced through the sun's atmosphere to create a canyon of fire with walls stretching about 20,000 kilometers high and nearly five times as far. The Earth might fit into the gaping hole.
11th Solar Cycle
The sun may be starting to wake up from a more dormant period of its normal 11-year cycle of activity based on this increasing activity. Despite our limited capacity to predict the sun's activity, some forecasters have claimed that the upcoming solar cycle may be among the greatest in recorded history.
Sunspots and solar flares both occur frequently due to the sun's 11-year cycle of activity, which alternates between periods of high and low sunspot density roughly every ten years. The next solar maximum, or the time when sunspot activity is at its peak, is expected to occur in 2025. During this time, as many as 115 sunspots may be seen on the sun's surface.
Over the past few years, solar activity has increased, and since spring 2022, a number of X-class flares have swooped over our planet, sometimes days apart. As we get closer to the next solar maximum, there will probably be more sunspots and solar flares.
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