Sun Expels Super X-Class Flare; Officials Expect More Solar Eruption To Come

The sun has released yet another solar X-class flare. The massive flare led to a temporary blackout across South America.

Sun Expels Super X-Class Flare

The Space Academy reports that this eruption took place on February 11. It spawned blackouts across certain regions of the earth and made room for more incoming solar eruptions.

The super flare was labeled as a strong X.1.1-class eruption. Space reports that it reached its peak at 10:49 am EST. This was according to the NOAA-operated US SPWC (Space Weather Prediction Center). The flare came from a solar region known as Active Region 3217.

Officials from the SWPC also alerted the public that more solar flares can be expected from within the region.This is so as it moves around the sun and comes up with rare degradation of communication that is high-frequency.

What Are Solar Flares?

According to Universe Today, solar flares are huge solar explosions that release high-speed particles, light, and energy right into outer space. They are considered the solar system's most energetic occurrences. Flares also have the capacity to affect navigation signals, electrical power grids, and radio communications. Spacecraft and astronauts could also experience risks because of such massive explosions.

Solar flare classification is based on the strength of the explosions. The Space Academy reports that the smaller ones are dubbed A-class and C-class explosions, which means that they are relatively minor. Their major counterparts are M-class and X-class flares, with the former allowing earth auroras to be amplified. It is the X-class flare, however, that is the strongest explosion of all.

According to the Space Academy, the strongest X-class flare that has ever been documented was in 2003. It was registered as an X28 flare prior to overwhelming the sensors across space that were measuring the explosion.

Strong flares can release large quantities of solar material through what is known as CME (Coronal Mass Ejection). This has the capacity to expel solar plasma clouds from the sun at a rate of as high as 1 million mph. When such emissions point directly toward earth, the sun's strongest explosions and CMEs can affect power stations and communications systems. They may even pose danger to space satellites and astronauts.

Spaceweather reports that the recent X.1.1-class solar flare has no associated CMEs. However, a CME was spotted from a different occurrence, which was a solar filament eruption in the northern hemisphere of the sun. Spaceweather reports that this explosion released CME toward earth and that the material could reach earth by February 14. This may make auroras even more intense.

Check out more news and information on the Sun in Science Times.