On July 23, 2024, the most powerful solar flare in the current activity cycle of our star occurred. It belonged to the X14 class and was almost twice as powerful as the May flash of the X8.7 class, after which auroras were observed in the far south of our country and in many other regions. Fortunately, the most powerful flare in recent years occurred on the far side of the Sun, which saved us from its consequences.

The explosion on July 23 was accompanied by an impressive coronal mass ejection from the Sun. This is a cloud of plasma-charged particles that can cause disruptions in the work of radio communications on Earth and the work of satellites up to complete failure and even deorbit due to the expansion of the Earth’s atmosphere under the influence of solar wind. Since the flare occurred on the far side of the Sun, the KVM “shot” went into empty space.

“According to the GOES classification, this was the largest flare to date,” said Samuel Krucker, principal investigator of the X-ray Imaging Spectrometer and Telescope (STIX) on SolO. “The other large flares we detected occurred on May 20, 2024 (X12) and July 17, 2023 (X10). All of these occurred on the far side of the Sun.”

If the giant spot causing the Sun’s glare were pointing toward Earth, and it were simply a matter of synchronizing with the star’s rotation, then we would be in for a stronger geomagnetic storm than before. In May, auroras could be seen far to the south. On the other hand, the planet’s energy and other infrastructure, which are of little use to industrial civilization, could be damaged.

Under the influence of solar rage, the Earth’s magnetic field begins to move, which causes direct currents to be induced in long metal structures (rails, pipelines, power lines). This creates a critical load on electronic and electrical equipment, which poses a risk of accidents.