A powerful solar flare blasted off the surface of the sun Thursday evening from a complex sunspot that might, quite literally, erupt once more very soon.
It was an explosion of charged particles It is registered as a class X1.2 torch. X flares are the most powerful class of flares and can cause geomagnetic storms Affect the earth’s magnetic field with the potential to damage satellites, communications equipment and even the power grid.
The eruption was the strongest seen since at least October.
NASA/ODS
An X1 glow like this, however, is at the lower end of the X scale. So no immediate damage has yet been reported from the explosion itself, other than a failure of shortwave radio over parts of Australia and the South Pacific. This attenuation is the result of an energetic solar flare traveling at the speed of light towards our planet, reaching Earth in just eight minutes. However, it was short.
However, scientists think there’s definitely more to this sunspot’s arsenal.
Former NASA astronomer Tony Phillips wrote in Spaceweather.com.
Strong eruptions are often accompanied by coronal mass ejections (CMEs) of hot plasma that can spit towards Earth but at much slower speeds, taking a day or more to make the trip.
When there is a direct impact on Earth, the result can be bright auroral displays at higher latitudes, but also the aforementioned infrastructure damage. So far, there is no report of a CME accompanying Thursday’s eruption.
That’s a welcome surprise, as the massive and powerfully complex sunspot it produced spent the first part of this week throwing powerful flares and the CME across the Sun’s far side. Now this sunspot, cataloged as AR3182, orbits in our direct line of sight from Earth, which means a future CME over the next few days might be pointed directly at us.
NOAA Forecasts from the Space Weather Prediction Center 10% chance to get more X eruptions during the weekend.