X9 solar flare launched from the sun is the largest in seven years – and Earth is in the line of fire (again)

The sun has unleashed its most powerful solar flare in seven years, following another supercharger explosion earlier this week. Both eruptions have caused coronal mass ejections (CMEs) on Earth, which could produce vivid auroral displays over large parts of our planet this weekend.

The latest The eruption had a magnitude of at least X9, making it the most powerful solar eruption of the current solar cycle – more than a monster X8.7 magnitude explosion in May.

It is the most powerful solar flare since September 2017, when the Sun emitted an X11.8 and X13.3 flare within a few days of each other.

The latest eruption launched a wave of radiation at Earth, which bypassed Earth’s magnetic shield or magnetosphere, and ionized the upper parts of the upper atmosphere, causing a temporary radio blackout over parts of Africa and the South Atlantic Ocean. It also provided a CME – a cloud of fast-moving plasma and solar particles – into space, likely to collide with Earth on Sunday (October 6), according to Spaceweather.com.

The same sunspot on Monday (October 1). unleashed a massive X7.1 flarewhich is now the third most powerful of the current cycle. This caused a similar radio blackout over the Pacific Ocean and launched another CME on Earth. The plasma cloud was predicted to hit Earth on Saturday (October 5), but could now hit our planet tonight (October 4).

Related: Could a powerful solar storm wipe out the internet?

A photo of the sun with a bright flash on its surface

An X7.1 solar flare exploded from the Sun on Tuesday (October 1) around 6:00 PM ET. At the time, it was the second most powerful eruption of the current solar cycle. (Image credit: NASA/SDO)

When the CMEs hit our planet this weekend, they will likely cause a disturbance in the magnetosphere known as a geomagnetic storm, which could allow solar particles to penetrate deep into the atmosphere and vibrant aurora displays at unusually low latitudes. The National Space Weather Prediction Center predicts a geomagnetic storm is underway may persist between October 4 and October 6 and will likely reach a “strong” (G3) power level, making auroras likely.

A A similar geomagnetic storm occurred in mid-August after another X-class flare hurled a CME straight at us.

The latest solar eruptions are a reminder of this we have probably entered the explosive peak of the sun’s approximately 11-year solar cycle, known as solar maximum. Scientists had initially predicted that this phase would begin next year and would be less active than previous solar cycles. However, it soon became clear that the solar maximum existed would arrive earlier and be more active than expectedforcing researchers to do so updating their predictions for the first time in their history.

2024 is already full of solar activity. In May, our planet experienced it most powerful geomagnetic storm in 21 years after a barrage of X-class CMEs destroyed some of the the most widespread auroras in 500 years. And in August, the The number of visible sunspots reached a 23-year high.

The latest monster flare is according to the 42nd X-class flare of 2024 SpaceWeatherLive.com. For context, there were only 36 X-class flares in the last nine years.

In the coming months, the number of geomagnetic storms and auroras could increase beyond Earth’s magnetic field becomes more closely aligned with the solar wind around the autumnal equinox. This means that any solar storms spewed out by the Sun have a greater chance of ending up in the magnetosphere.

Sunspot AR3842 could also emit more powerful solar flares in the coming days, researchers warn.

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X9 solar flare launched from the sun is the largest in seven years – and Earth is in the line of fire (again)

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X9 solar flare launched from the sun is the largest in seven years – and Earth is in the line of fire (again)

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