Sun erupts its biggest solar flare in 4 years
The Sun recently unleashed its biggest solar flare in four years. The flare occurred from a sunspot called "AR2838" on July 3, caused a brief radio blackout on Earth, according to the Space Weather Prediction Centre (SWPC).
The sunspot AR2838 explosion unleashed the largest solar flare since 2017, which is officially categorised as an X1.5-class explosion. It (sunspot) occurred near the star’s northwestern limb and is expected to move towards the far side of the Sunover the next few weeks.
According to spaceweather.com, a website that tracks space weather events, if the sunspot holds together it will come back towards Earth's point of view in late July. The latest eruption marks the beginning of a new solar cycle.
The X-class solar flare are the strongest kind of eruptions on the sun. The effects of solar flare were felt on Earth including a shortwave radio blackout over the Atlantic Ocean.
Sun erupts its biggest solar flare in 4 years
Known for damaging equipment and disrupting electrical transmissions on Earth, the July 3 flare did not disappoint as it produced a radio burst, a deflection of local magnetic fields, ionospheric disturbance, and a surge of electrical currents in the ground.
Reports suggest that the flare led to ionization of the top of Earth's atmosphere and caused currents to flow 60 km to 100 km above the planet's surface, altering the polar magnetic field.
Solar Flare: What it is?
A solar flare is a sudden and intense explosion on the surface of the Sun which happens in the aftermath of massive amounts of energy stored in magnetic fields are released suddenly.
The explosion releases the radiation into the universe that directly affects the planets in our solar system. These radiations comprise of radio waves, x-rays, and gamma rays.
NASA claims that the energy released by this explosion is equivalent to millions of 100-megaton hydrogen bombs going off at the same time. Even then, it constitutes just one-tenth of the Sun’s total energy.
The energy released by this explosion could be equivalent to millions of 100-megaton hydrogen bombs exploding at the same time. However, it is just one-tenth of the total energy emitted by the Sun every second, according to NASA.
