A powerful solar flare interrupted radio communications to Earth last night, and space weather forecasters fear this could be the start of a period of severe space weather in the coming days. Sun flash To rate the strength of these powerful flashes of light, on a 5-point scale it was the strongest X class and came from the largest and most complex group. sunspots currently observed by spacemen forecasters in the southwestern part Sun.

X1.2 solar flare exploding on Soil At 10:33 PM ET on Tuesday, March 28 (02:33 GMT, Wednesday, March 29), it ionized the Earth’s upper layer atmosphereIt affects radio communications in Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand for about an hour.

British space estimator Met Office It rates the Sun’s current activity as high with the possibility of new flares in the coming days. Flashes, rapidly spreading bursts of electromagnetic radiation lightslower ones may accompany coronal mass ejection (CME). CMEs are eruptions of charged particles from the Sun’s upper atmosphere, the corona, that cause the worst problems in our technology-dependent world. Unlike flares that hit Earth in eight minutes but fade quickly, CMEs reach our planet in a matter of days. The charged particles they contain can penetrate Earth’s atmosphere and cause beautiful geomagnetic storms. polar lightsbut sometimes it also affects and damages power grids satellites in orbit

While space weather forecasters don’t currently think a CME is heading towards Earth, they still expect turbulent space weather conditions in the coming days. strong currents solar wind they are now flowing out of two coronal holes, or holes, in the Sun’s magnetic field, and these flows are expected to affect our planet in the coming days. Although solar wind flows from coronal vents are not as energetic as CMEs, they can cause milder geomagnetic storms.

according to materials SpaceWeather.com, last night X-flare was seventh this year. By comparison, there were a total of seven X-ray bursts in all of 2022, which means we are currently in a very active part of the solar system. loop11-year periodic tidal pattern of solar activity. Intense activity is expected as the current cycle, which is the 25th since registrations began, peaks in 2025. So be prepared for more radio outages, more aurorae, and possibly more disruptions to power grids and satellite services in the future. months