Massive X-Class Solar Flare Erupts From 'Rule-Breaking' Sunspot, With Earth in the Crosshairs (Video)

The sun is very active and we may see more stunning aurora borealis.

In the early hours of this morning (August 14), the Sun unleashed its most powerful class of solar flare, a powerful X-class eruption. The solar flare peaked at 2:40 a.m. EDT (0640 GMT) and caused shortwave radio waves to be cut off over the sunlit portion of the Sun. land At the time of the eruption, Asia and the Indian Ocean.

What makes this X-Class? solar flare What is particularly interesting is that this phenomenon was sparked by “breaking the rules.” Sunspot AR3784 has already caught the attention of solar scientists and Aurora Chasers Because of its strange polarity.

The polarity of the sunspot violates a century-old rule, Hill’s Law, according to which sunspots in the Northern Hemisphere should be +-polarized. Instead, sunspot AR3784 is ±-polarized, a full 90 degrees off, according to Space Weather Dot Com.

Related to: Rare Pair of Northern Lights and Perseid Meteor Shower Delight Skywatchers

It’s not the first sunspot to break the rule, according to spaceweather.com, which happens about 3 percent of the time. However, most “rule breakers” exhibit “reverse polarity” with +- instead of -+, but AR3784 falls somewhere in between.

An image of the Sun taken with NASA’s SDO HMI Magnetogram instrument shows positive fields colored green and blue with negative fields shown in yellow and red. (Image credit: NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, SDO/HMI Magnetogram, graph produced and marked up in Canva by Daisy Dobrijevic)

The experts at Spaceweather.com suggest that “this sunspot’s magnetic foundations are twisted in an unusual way. If two opposite magnetic poles twist together too tightly, an X-class solar flare could occur.” And here’s the sunspot doing just that.

Solar flares are eruptions on The sunSolar flares are intense bursts of electromagnetic radiation on the Sun’s surface. These flares occur when magnetic energy built up in the Sun’s atmosphere is suddenly released. They are classified by size into different classes, with X-class flares being the most powerful. M-class flares are about 10 times weaker than X-class flares, followed by C-class flares, which are about 10 times weaker than M-class flares. B-class flares are about 10 times weaker than C-class flares, and A-class flares, which are about 10 times weaker than B-class flares, have no significant effects on Earth. Within each class, numbers from 1 to 10 (and up for X-class flares) indicate the relative strength of the flare.

Powerful solar flares like the one released this morning can often be accompanied by coronal mass ejection — A large column of plasma and magnetic field from the Sun. Since confirmed Yesterday’s solar flares sent faint coronal mass ejections directly toward Earth.

The exact timing of CME arrival is uncertain. NOAA Model Suggested arrival date is August 18. NASA Model The date is approaching August 17th.

Aurora hunters, good luck with your mission and keep your cameras charged! (If you’re hoping to capture an aurora, check out our guide to where and how to take aurora photos.)

Coronal mass ejections carry electrically charged particles known as ions, and when these particles hit the Earth’s surface, Magnetic fieldThese storms can lead to geomagnetic storms. During these storms, ions interact with gases in the atmosphere. Earth’s atmosphereresulting in the release of energy in the form of light. This phenomenon is known as Northern Lightsor aurora borealis, in the Northern Hemisphere, and as with the Southern Lights, or aurora australis, in the Southern Hemisphere.

Not only was there a coronal mass ejection accompanying the solar flare, there was also a strong radio blackout. The shortwave radio blackout observed over Asia and the Indian Ocean was caused by intense bursts of X-rays and extreme ultraviolet radiation emitted during solar flares.

Shortwave radio disruptions were observed across Asia and the Indian Ocean. (Image credit: NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center)

Radiation from solar flares reaches Earth when speed of light They ionize the upper atmosphere upon arrival. This ionization creates a denser environment for high-frequency shortwave radio signals that facilitate long-distance communications.

When these radio waves pass through ionized (electrically charged) layers, they lose energy due to increased collisions with Electronswhich can cause radio signals to be weakened or completely absorbed.

Editor’s Note: This story was updated at 5:30 a.m. ET (0930 GMT) to include information on confirmed CME releases and expected arrival dates.

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