The sun released an extremely powerful solar flare on April 30 night which caused massive radio blackouts across the Pacific region.
A solar flare is a brief eruption of intense high-energy radiation from the sun's surface.
It put the solar flare in M-class, however, it was a range very close to X-class.
The last X-class solar flare, which had the capacity to ionise the part of Earth's atmosphere, was detected on March 28.
Strong solar produces widespread radio blackouts due to the intense pulse of X-rays and high ultraviolet radiation pacing towards Earth.
The sun released an extremely powerful solar flare on April 30 night which caused massive radio blackouts across the Pacific region. The flare peaked at 7:46 pm EDT (2346 GMT) and ended shortly after at 7:58 pm EDT (2358 GMT), Space.com reported.
A solar flare is a brief eruption of intense high-energy radiation from the sun's surface. The phenomenon is associated with sunspots and leads to radio and magnetic disturbances on the Earth.
There are different categories of solar flares labelled with different alphabets, with X-class being the most powerful. After that, there is M-class which is 10 times less powerful than X-class.
C-class is after M-class and weaker too, but more powerful than B-class. The last one is A-class, which is 10 times the weakest of all and doesn't pose noticeable dangers to planet Earth.
Spaceweatherlive.com reported that the one that struck Earth on Tuesday clocked in at M9.53, which was measured by NASA's GOES-16 satellite. It put the solar flare in M-class, however, it was a range very close to X-class.
The last X-class solar flare, which had the capacity to ionise the part of Earth's atmosphere, was detected on March 28. The Space Weather had then reported that the explosion was so powerful that it led to a "deep shortwave radio blackout over the Pacific Ocean".
Strong solar produces widespread radio blackouts due to the intense pulse of X-rays and high ultraviolet radiation pacing towards Earth.
Space.com reported that the April 30 solar flare emitted radiation that impacted the sunlit portion of Earth when it erupted, which in this case was the Pacific region.
"Mariners and ham radio operators may have noticed a loss of signal below 20 MHz for as much as 30 minutes after the flare's peak," Spaceweather.com reported.
While commenting on the recent flare, astrophysicist Ryan French posted on X: "Despite high sunspot numbers for the last couple of weeks, tonight's near X-class #SolarFlare is the first decent-sized flare in some time! When and where will the next X-class event come from?"
A solar scientist, Alex Young, also took to X to write: "It is always exciting when a sunspot region lives up to its potential. AR3654 has just done that." 😱Update Apr 30, 2024: Almost X flare!
👏💥🤩It is always exciting when a sunspot region lives up to its potential. AR3654 has just done that. At 23:23 UTC on Apr 30, the region released a flare that almost made it to X with an M9.5.
🧐MORE at EarthSky: https://t.co/xD29wLfm4e pic.twitter.com/efGC1G2Rn8 — Dr. C. Alex Young (@TheSunToday) May 1, 2024 ×
