NASA announced that a strong solar flare was emitted from the sun on Friday.
The organization’s Solar Dynamics Observatory captured an image of the event as it occurred.
A solar flare is a type of explosion on the surface of the sun that occurs when “twisted” magnetic fields release massive amounts of solar energy and material into space, according to The European Space Agency. While these events do not have the destructive potential of a coronal mass ejection, they do affect the ionosphere, as well as radio communications.
A powerful solar flare is just one of the many ways ChatGPT predicted an end to life on Earth could come about, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
Solar flares are classified using three categories C-Class, M-Class, and X-Class. M-class flares are medium-sized events characterized by brief radio blackouts that affect the poles and cause small radiation storms, while C-class flares barely generate any noticeable effects.
X-Class events can result in global radio blackouts and stronger radiation storms.
The event captured on July 2 is one such X-class occurrence, classified as an X 1.0 event. Scientists observed the event coming from a region of the sun known as sunspot group AR3354, which measures seven times the width of our planet, according to Space.com.
An image capture of the event shows a large flash of ultraviolet radiation lighting up this region.
The National Atmospheric and Oceanic Administration’s Space Weather Prediction Center reported that the event created a “strong” radio blackout during the evening hours of July 2, with the event peaking at 7:14 p.m.
“Temporary degradation or complete loss of high-frequency radio signals on some of the sunlit side of Earth.”
The flare resulted in “a deep shortwave radio blackout over western parts of the U.S. and the Pacific Ocean that lasted around 30 minutes,” according to Space.com.
Physicist Keith Strong noted that June 2023 had the highest monthly average for sunspot numbers in over 20 years, per Space.com.
As of now, no reports of any radiation storms have surfaced.
