They warn of a possible large-magnitude solar flare in the coming days

2023-07-17 20:32:29

The probabilities of activity in three regions of the Sun result in the forecast of a possible solar eruption of the strongest category between today and tomorrow, with potential effects on communication and power transmission systems, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported on Monday. (NOAA) of the United States.

“There is a possibility of an X-class event on July 17 or 18,” NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center said in a bulletin.

Astronomers classify these flares from the mildest, Class A, B, C, and M, to the strongest Class X. Each letter represents a 10-fold increase in energy.

Solar flares are explosions on the Sun that emit energy, light, and particles at high speed into space, and the number of these flares increases on a cycle of regarding 11 years.

The current cycle, the twenty-fifth since the recording of these phenomena began in 1755, began in 2019 and, initially following the pattern of the previous one, was extremely weak at first, according to the US space agency NASA.

In that year there were 274 days without spots or solar flares, the highest number since 1913.

But the current cycle accelerated its pace in 2022, surpassing forecasts by NASA, which now estimates that by 2025 it will peak with regarding 115 sunspots and flares each month.

If the torrent of energy is emitted in the direction of the Earth, it can create large radiation storms, with damage to satellites, communication systems and electricity transmission networks, especially in the case of the most intense eruptions.

“Although the Sun is no more active now than in previous generations, our society has changed,” said Mark Miesch, a professor of astrophysics at the University of Colorado who works with NOAA’s Center for Space Weather Prediction.

“With our increasing reliance on electric power, global telecommunications, navigation and aviation satellites, we are more sensitive than ever to the Sun’s mood swings,” he noted.

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