Scientists are warning that Earth is being struck by a growing number of powerful solar flares as activity on the Sun intensifies, disrupting communications and raising concerns about looming additional impacts.
The Sun opened December with a major eruption: an X1.9-class solar flare, one of the strongest categories of flare measured.
The blast briefly knocked out radio communications across Australia and parts of Southeast Asia.
Coronagraph imagery from NASA and ESA’s SOHO spacecraft showed a rapid partial-halo coronal mass ejection (CME), a burst of plasma and magnetic field, launching from the Sun’s northeast limb.
Massive Sunspot Cluster AR4294 Now Turning Toward Earth
The more significant concern, scientists say, is the enormous sunspot region trailing behind the flare.
The cluster has been designated AR4294.
It has grown so large and magnetically complex that NOAA has divided it into three separate numbered regions.
AR4294 is the same sunspot area that produced multiple X-class flares last month.
However, it has only expanded since.
As the region rotates into direct view of Earth, forecasters warn that additional strong flares are increasingly likely.
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