Falcon powers – NASA’s Dynamic Solar Observatory captured the moment our sun unleashed its “largest solar flare in over a decade”, sending columns of plasma hurtling through space.
Experts revealed that this radiation burst, which occurred on May 14th, was the biggest since the start of the current solar cycle in 2019, and was larger than the flares that caused the stunning aurora displays seen last week.
The footage shows how the plasma arches contorted as the flare’s intensity peaked. As the eruption emerged from the Sun’s western limb, the radiation was extremely powerful.
The flare was classified as an X8.7 class event, but it erupted directly over the western horizon, providing some shielding for Earth from the radiation blast.
Dr. Greg Brown, an astronomer at the Royal Observatory Greenwich, said: “This flare is unlikely to produce a major aurora, as it is not directed towards us. For an Earth-directed coronal mass ejection, which often accompanies such flares, to generate an aurora, the particle spray from the Sun needs to reach Earth’s atmosphere.”
This solar flare could impact terrestrial communication systems, by altering the way radio signals propagate through the upper atmosphere. This means major flares can affect GPS navigation services, communications networks, and other technologies.
Experts expect Earth to experience two more solar eruptions in the coming days.
Solar flares occur due to the tangling of magnetic field lines in the Sun’s outer layers, leading to powerful bursts of X-ray and ultraviolet radiation.
