- Radio blackouts and satellite disruption warnings
- Sun released over a dozen particle streams
- 14 solar flares detected in 24 hours
In the previous 24 hours, the sun has released more than a dozen intense streams of charged particles toward Earth, prompting radio blackout warnings.
On Wednesday, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) issued an advisory indicating that radios, aviation communication, and satellite operations might be interrupted by 65% this week.
On Wednesday morning, the agency reported blackouts across the Pacific Ocean and other regions.
Solar flares are explosions of electromagnetic radiation emitted by sunspots; at least 12 active sunspots are now on the sun’s Earth-facing side.
When solar flares erupt, they hurl radiation away from the sun’s surface at the speed of light.
The radiation could end up colliding with Earth depending on where it explodes.
The energy streams are divided into lettered categories based on size, with X being the most powerful and M, C, and B being the weakest.
Only X and M flares are powerful enough to impair communications on Earth.
When it comes, it electrically charges the upper atmosphere, perhaps causing radio blackouts.
Dean Pesnell, a project Scientist at NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, said that this is the time when most sunspots form and grow in size.
However, ‘when AR3738 moves out of view, the sun may settle down quite a bit,’ Pesnell added.
Even after this week’s activity subsided, the sun will stay at solar maximum until 2025.
This indicates that we’ll probably witness more sunspots form, grow, and generate solar flares this year.
For the past few days, scientists have been tracking radio blackouts around the world, which were caused by a period of extreme solar activity.
In the last 24 hours, the sun has produced 14 solar flares.
The most potent flares have emanated from sunspot AR3738, a massive, black region with strong magnetic fields on the sun’s surface.
This sunspot is beginning to rotate away from Earth’s perspective, but it is going out with a bang.
Sunspot AR3738 unleashed an X flare, the most powerful type of solar flare, at 9:26 a.m. ET Tuesday.
Tuesday’s X flare triggered a widespread radio blackout, primarily over the Atlantic Ocean but in much of Africa, Europe, and North and South America.
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The sun’s activity has remained strong after that X flare, with weaker M and C flares.
The M flares caused modest radio blackouts throughout the Pacific Ocean, Hawaii, and northern India.
And there’s a fair probability that more will follow.
According to EarthSky.org analysts, there is a 70% risk of M flares in the next 24 hours and a 25% chance of X flares.
This increased activity results from solar maximum, a period in the sun’s 11-year cycle when solar activity is at its peak.
