The Sun is entering an active phase: today's solar flare was the most powerful in the last 6 years
Kyiv • UNN
On December 14, a flare occurred in the active region of the Sun, the strongest since 2017. Several strong flares were also recorded the day before, with radiation from them reaching the Earth.
According to NASA, on December 14, the Sun experienced a powerful X-class flare, which released a huge pulse of high-energy radiation. As SpaceWeather.com is reported by SpaceWeather.com, according to UNN.
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The power of the flare is registered as X2.8, which makes it the most powerful solar flare since September 2017. Powerful flares like this one are often accompanied by coronal mass ejections that send huge clouds of of solar plasma into space at millions of miles per hour.
On Earth, flares can trigger geomagnetic storms, which can disrupt power grids and other infrastructure. Such storms can also enhance the aurora, making these celestial light phenomena more intense and visible over large areas.
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The Earth's atmosphere absorbs harmful radiation that reaches our planet. But this radiation can still affect our lives, for example affecting the signals transmitted by GPS and communication satellites and causing radio communications blackouts. Today's outbreak also caused a blackout shortwave radio communications over North and South America.
SpaceWeather.com believes that we will soon be able to see more solar activity as the Sun is becoming more and more active these days.
Solar activity waxes and wanes on an 11-year cycle. The National National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicts that the current 25th solar cycle will peak between January and October next year.
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