Scenes from the most violent solar eruption in 7 years

Arab Weather - At exactly 12:10, the sun witnessed the most violent solar eruption recorded since 2017, with a magnitude of X9.05, which led to interruptions in short radio waves over Africa and Europe.

The eruption came from the previously newsworthy sunspot cluster AR3842. On October 1, the same spot cluster released a powerful X7.1 solar flare, accompanied by a coronal mass ejection (CME) — a column of plasma and magnetic field that is currently heading toward Earth.

Geomagnetic storms and aurora

Meteorologist and space weather forecaster Sarah Housel explained that this mass ejection directed towards Earth came immediately after the large solar flare, and is expected to cause geomagnetic storms that could lead to the appearance of the aurora on October 5 and 6.

CMEs are electrically charged particles known as ions. When these particles collide with Earth's magnetosphere, they can trigger geomagnetic storms. During these storms, the ions interact with gases in Earth's atmosphere, producing light energy known as the northern lights (aurora borealis) in the Northern Hemisphere and the southern lights (aurora australis) in the Southern Hemisphere.

THIS WEEKEND Earth will be hit by a super-powerful solar storm, caused by yesterday's massive flare. Flares are ranked by letters (A, B, C. M, X) & numbers (1-9). This flare was a chart-topping X9! Expect radio blackouts, power grid surges & colorful auroas. #sciencewithdrg pic.twitter.com/CSHyLVh3bn

—Dr. Michael Guillén (@DrMGuillen) October 4, 2024

Effect of glare on communications

This large solar flare caused shortwave radio transmission disruptions in Europe and Africa. This is caused by radiation reaching the Earth ionizing the upper atmosphere. This ionization creates a dense environment that blocks the passage of high-frequency shortwave radio signals, reducing their energy and potentially causing them to be completely absorbed.

The most powerful explosion in the current solar cycle

This is the most powerful solar flare in more than seven years, with two massive flares of magnitude X13.3 and X11.8 occurring in September 2017 during the waning phase of the previous solar cycle. Solar activity waxes and wanes over an 11-year cycle.

Solar flare classifications

Solar flares are classified according to their size into different classes, with X-class flares being the most powerful, followed by M-class flares which are ten times less powerful, C-class flares which are ten times weaker than M-class flares, B-class flares, and finally A-class flares which are the weakest and do not affect Earth. Each class is divided into numbers from 1 to 10 (and above in the case of X-class flares) to determine the relative strength of the flare.

The Wonders of the Heavens are on full display; Weather permitting…

<Breaking News>
We are currently experiencing a period of increased solar activity, a Solar maximum that has produced a series of X class Solar flares.

On October 1st an X-4 class solar flare… pic.twitter.com/eUKDsTu9JN

— Nikogreg (@Nikogreg1) October 4, 2024

See also:

Tonight is the best chance to see the Northern Lights since May.. What are they? And where can you see them?

Earth braces for massive solar storm that could knock out communications this week