Sun Releases Powerful X-Class Solar Flare That Causes Intense Radio Blackout in Western US, Pacific Ocean [See Photo]

The Sun erupted recently, releasing a very powerful solar flare. According to reports, the flare was so intense that it caused a radio blackout.

Sun Unleashed X-Class Solar Flare

On Sunday (July 2), an active sunspot region, AR 3354, released an X-class solar flare around 7:14 PM Eastern Standard Time. X-class is the strongest type of flare that our Sun is capable of releasing, ScienceAlert reported.

The flare, which measured X1.0 ionized Earth's upper atmosphere and interfered with high-frequency radio communications on the side of the planet facing the Sun at the time. The largest ever recorded solar flare was X28, over 20 years ago.

Although it may seem serious, the impact on Earth was less severe than it could have been since the flare dissipated without causing any further harm. A coronal mass ejection (CME), which frequently occurs with such events and would have blasted plasma streamers far into space, was not visible to astronomers.

The eruption was in line with the increasing trajectory of the present solar cycle and shows that we are in for some wild months as we approach the forthcoming 11-year peak of solar activity. According to the Royal Observatory of Belgium, sunspots have risen to a 21-year high, with an average of 163 spots each day in June.

The flare's radiation ionized the top of the Earth's atmosphere, causing a 30-minute-long deep shortwave radio blackout over the western United States and the Pacific Ocean, Space.com reported.

A solar physicist, Keith Strong, posted a breathtaking flare video on Twitter. He claimed in his post that the X FLARE was developing in the footage. The Sun created aA recent X1.07 flare from sunspot region AR3354 on the NW limb, which ranks between the 10th and 14th largest flares thus far in the solar cycle. He added that there had been 18 X flares so far in SC25, the current solar process, as opposed to just 14 in SC24. The solar scientist noted in another tweet that the highest monthly average number of sunspots since September 2020 occurred last month. The SNN for June 2023 was 163.4, which was a record high. Currently, the CM model predicts that SC25 will peak at about 200. Meanwhile, SC42 reached 116.

What Is a Solar Flare?

When magnetic fields surrounding sunspots become entangled, break, and then reconnect, a process known as reconnection happens and produces what is known as a solar flare, per Space.com. The recent flare appears to have been aided by a plasma plume that caused magnetized material to fall on sunspot AR3354, based on the video footage shared by Strong.

Flares are divided into three categories based on their intensity - B-flares, C-flares, and M-flares. B-flares are the weakest flares. The strongest type of solar flares, like the one visible on Sunday from AR3354, are called X-flares.

Similar to how the Richter scale counts earthquakes, the strength of solar flare classes increases with magnitude. Accordingly, an X-class flare has 1,000 more power than a B-class flare and ten times the strength of an M-class flare.

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