According to the UK Met Office, in the last 24 hours the Sun has produced a total of eight M-class eruptions.
This Wednesday there were several M-class solar flares caused by a sunspot, identified as AR3165, which emerged in the southwestern quadrant of the Sun, the SpaceWeather portal reported.
The M6 flare, considered the strongest that has been detected so far, caused a blackout in shortwave radio communications in the Atlantic Ocean. The EarthSky site reported that there were also radio blackouts in the South Indian Ocean and in South Africa.
The UK Met Office said that in the last 24 hours the Sun has emitted a total of eight M-class eruptions. The information was corroborated by the solar physicist Keith Strong, who warned, based on his observations, that there is a risk of a class X solar flare, a phenomenon that due to its great magnitude can cause radio blackouts throughout the planet, as well as storms long-term radiation.
However, EarthSky stated that there is only a 1% chance of such an eruption occurring. On the other hand, he assured that around 10 regions of sunspots ejected towards the Earth have been detected.
Even the Sun is showing up in style for #AGU2022…🤩 This morning it erupted with an M6.3-class flare! NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, which watches the Sun constantly, captured the eruption shown here in its 131 Angstrom channel, which is colorized in teal. pic.twitter.com/f2YOFkwt2P
— NASA Sun & Space (@NASASun) December 14, 2022
The US Space Weather Forecast Center (SWPC) explained that the AR3165 region will be in the visible area of the solar disk for at least two more days, before it begins to rotate in another direction. In addition, he pointed out that there are possibilities of other M-class solar flares.
- Sunspots are dark areas that can be observed in the solar layer, known as the photosphere, and are caused by the intense magnetic flux coming from the surface of that star.
Source: RT
