“Here comes the sun” never sounded so ominous.
The sun is putting on a superheated fireworks display. Our solar system’s light source just unleashed four powerful solar flares between Feb 1 and 2, including one of the strongest sunbursts in three decades, causing blackouts and increasing the possibility of aurora activity over the next few days.
NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory captured images of the luminous quartet, which originated from a sunspot cluster known as RGN 4366 that’s rotating around the sun to face Earth, the BBC’s Sky At Night magazine reported.
Solar flare on the sun’s surface captured by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory between Feb 1 and 2. SDO/NASA / SWNSFor those who have been living under a rock, solar flares entail strong energy bursts that emanate from the sun.
All four starbusts clocked in at an X-class ranking—the most intense designation, the Scientific American reported.
The most noteworthy member of the celestial quartet was a radiant X8.1-class flare — the most powerful since October 2024 and among the top 20 since 1996, according to SpaceWeatherLive.com.
Unfortunately, the impact was more than just visual. The X.81 flare caused strong radio blackouts across a swathe of the South Pacific, along with shortwave radio disruptions across eastern Australia and New Zealand, Space.com reported.
Illustration of the Solar Dynamics Observatory spacecraft in orbit above Earth, facing the sun. SDO/NASA / SWNSMeanwhile, experts are watching for signs of an associated coronal mass ejection (CME) — when plasma and magnetic particles burst forth from the sun’s surface.
This has the potential to wreak havoc on Earth by impacting radio communications, GPS, satellites, power grids and even spacecraft and astronauts.
Thankfully, analysis of the CME associated with the X8.3 outburst indicates that most of the solar shrapnel is likely to bypass us to the North and East, potentially grazing our planet around Feb. 5, according to NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center.
Along with communications blackouts, solar flares are capable of generating spectacular aurora displays when solar particles strike Earth’s upper atmosphere and mingle with gases there.
In this case, the solar salvo could make these light shows visible in Northern regions of the USA and Canada.
Why the major flare up? Solar activity is the highest it’s been in 23 years due to solar maximum, which is the most active phase of the sun’s 11-year cycle.
According to the Space Weather Prediction Center, the aforementioned sunspot cluster is not only facing Earth but its constituents have grown over the past few days. In fact, forecasters have predicted an uptick in activity in the region, meaning that more solar flares could be heading this way.
