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Could this be the Perfect Geo-storm? October is off to a hot start: The sun unleashed a massive X-class solar flare — the “strongest of its kind,” according to Space.com — that has the potential to pummel our planet with a powerful geomagnetic storm this week. The supercharged sunburst erupted from sunspot AR3842 on Tuesday evening. It clocked in at X7.1, making it the second most powerful in the last seven years after the monster X8.7 magnitude in May, Live Science reported. This also triggered a coronal mass ejection (CME) — when plasma and magnetic particles burst forth from the...

The sun has unleashed an enormous X-class solar flare, temporarily triggering a radio blackout above parts of the U.S. and unleashing a hefty coronal mass ejection (CME) that will likely slam into our planet, potentially triggering vibrant aurora displays later this week. The X-class solar flare — the most powerful type the sun can produce — exploded outward from sunspot AR3842 near the solar equator at around 6 p.m. ET on Tuesday (Oct. 1). The flare had a magnitude of X7.1, making it the second most powerful solar explosion of the current solar cycle, Solar Cycle 25, which began in...

A storm could be-fall us. Colorful leaves and cooler temperatures aren’t the only thing autumn is potentially bringing. Meteorologists predict that Earth could be blasted by a geomagnetic storm on Wednesday due to its timing with the autumnal equinox. A coronal mass ejection (CME) — when plasma and magnetic particles burst forth from the sun’s surface — occurred on Sunday, the same day as the official start of fall, Space.com reported. It reportedly occurred when a sunspot called AR3835 unexpectedly spouted an M-class solar flare — something scientists hadn’t predicted as said sunspot had appeared stable.

(NEXSTAR) – Geomagnetic storm conditions observed over the weekend strengthened Monday morning, creating a “major disturbance in Earth’s magnetic field,” the Space Weather Prediction Center said. The storm reached a G4 level in strength — the second-highest on the scale, classified as “severe” — just before 11 a.m. Eastern Time. The geomagnetic storm conditions may continue into the evening as solar flaring continues, forecasters said. “Severe levels is pretty extraordinary,” Shawn Dahl, service coordinator at SWPC, said in a media briefing earlier this year. “It’s a very rare event to happen.” At the G4 level, impacts on our infrastructure are...

Artist's impression of a flare from Proxima Centauri. (Mark Myers/OzGrav We already had a bit of an inkling that our nearest stellar neighbour might be an inhospitable place. In 2017, red dwarf Proxima Centauri was caught belching out a colossal flare 10 times more powerful than the largest eruptions from the Sun, dampening hopes for habitable conditions on the rocky world orbiting it, Proxima Centauri b. The outlook for life as we know it just got even more grim. A new discovery has given us evidence that Proxima Centauri may be releasing Sun-like coronal mass ejections, in which vast quantities...

Proxima Centauri, the closest star to the sun, recently burst forth with one of the most powerful flares ever seen for a star its size. The small red dwarf is generally invisible to the human eye, but this flare may have lit it up bright enough for some naked eye observers to see the event—at least under the right conditions, according to Alison Youngblood, a postdoctoral fellow at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. According to the team's findings, the star brightened by a factor of 68 during the "superflare," unleashing 316,227,766,000 petajoules (316,227 petawatts) of energy. Proxima Centauri is just...

Astronomers have detected a massive stellar flare -- an energetic explosion of radiation -- from the closest star to our own Sun, Proxima Centauri, which occurred last March. This finding raises questions about the habitability of our Solar System's nearest exoplanetary neighbor, Proxima b [an Earth-like planet], which orbits Proxima Centauri.

MacGregor and her colleagues observed Proxima Centauri for 40 hours using nine telescopes on the ground and in space. In the process, they got a surprise: Proxima Centauri ejected a flare, or a burst of radiation that begins near the surface of a star, that ranks as one of the most violent seen anywhere in the galaxy..."The star went from normal to 14,000 times brighter when seen in ultraviolet wavelengths over the span of a few seconds," said MacGregor.

Scientists have spotted one of the largest stellar flares ever recorded in our galaxy. The jets of plasma shot outward from the sun's nearest neighbor, the red dwarf star Proxima Centauri. The flare, which was around 100 times more powerful than any experienced in our solar system, could change the way scientists think about solar radiation and alien life.Proxima Centauri is a red dwarf — the smallest, dimmest and most common type of main sequence stars in the galaxy — located approximately 4.25 light-years from Earth. Its mass is only one-eighth of the sun's, and it is orbited by two...

Explanation: It's back. The famous active region on the Sun that created auroras visible around the Earth earlier this month has survived its rotation around the far side of the Sun -- and returned. Yesterday, as it was beginning to reappear on the Earth-facing side, the region formerly labeled AR 3664 threw another major solar flare, again in the highest-energy X-class range. The featured video shows the emerging active region on the lower left, as it was captured by NASA's Earth-orbiting Solar Dynamics Observatory yesterday in ultraviolet light. The video is a time-lapse of the entire Sun rotating over 24...

An enormous sunspot, which can be seen from the surface of Mars, is turning towards Earth as scientists warn of a possible ‘grid destroying’ solar flare. Sunspot group AR3576, which measures 124,274 miles across the sun’s surface, contains four dark cores larger than planet Earth, according to Spaceweather. The group was so big it could be seen from Mars by NASA’s Perseverance Rover, However, scientists are now warning the sunspot is turning towards Earth. While the sunspot is only forecast to cause a G1-class geomagnetic storm, it is still close to Earth. However, the forecast is based on a “coin...

According to space and weather experts, a recent development regarding the appearance of two new sunspots on the Sun has sparked a wave of concern, with the expectation that a global blackout can be hitting the Earth anytime soon. The National Oceanic and Atmosphere Administration (NOAA) has recently issued a warning about an upcoming solar storm, which can cause major electricity and signal blackouts soon. This comes as two unstable sunspots are visible on the side of the Sun which is facing the earth. According to experts, a solar storm sparked by a massive solar flare explosion on Earth can...

The solar flare, a powerful X1 (the mildest form of the strongest category of flares) erupted from the sun on Sunday at 3:53 p.m. EDT (1953 GMT) and peaked about 30 minutes later. Since solar flares travel at the speed of light, the burst of electromagnetic radiation caused an immediate radio blackout up to an hour long on the sun-facing side of the planet. The affected region included the whole of the U.S., according to the SpaceWeatherWatch(opens in new tab). The radio blackout, classed by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) as a strong R3 category, likely affected...

The recent flare is directed towards the Earth and is expected to cause significant blackouts to GPS navigation systems, which could end up disrupting journeys for small aircraft and ships. Ham radio or amateur radio operators will face some disruptions due to this solar flare, which has a 10 percent chance of being an X-class solar event. Astronomers are not yet sure if the flare was also accompanied by a coronal mass ejection (CME), which could result in a geomagnetic storm in a couple of days. The timing of the solar flare brings back memories of another solar flare that...

The worst of this one will miss us, but it is a hint of what's to come. The eruption came from a sunspot on the western limb of our local star, and represents the most powerful solar flare seen since 2017. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory observed the blast at 8:57 p.m. PT on Tuesday, causing a radio blackout for certain shortwave, aviation and other communications centered on Asia. The flare was classified as an X2.2. X-class flares are the strongest category measured by scientists, and higher numbers following the X represent an increase in the power of the eruption. NASA...

Our sun just had a medium-sized energy burp. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) caught a mid-level solar flare on Thursday (Jan. 20) with a peak at 1:01 a.m. EST (0601 GMT). You can see the flash on the limb, or edge, of the sun, thanks to SDO's powerful imaging. Because the flare was on the sun's limb, it likely wasn't pointed squarely toward Earth. The flare is classified as medium or M5.5 class, powerful enough to potentially cause radio blackouts in polar regions if the flare were to hit our planet square-on. The sun has an 11-year cycle of solar...

NOAA issued a G3, or "strong" geomagnetic storm watch, for Saturday and Sunday ahead of the flare slamming into the Earth. The scale for geomagnetic storms runs from G1, or minor storm, to G5, an extreme storm. This geomagnetic storm could cause voltage irregularities and false alarms on some protection devices, NOAA warns. It also could cause high frequency radio blackouts and loss of radio contact on the sunlit side of the earth. The most visible effect from the impending geomagnetic storm is it will likely supercharge the aurora borealis, making it visible across large parts of the US and...

Solar particles blasted out in association with the flare could hit Earth tomorrow (Oct. 29). A major solar flare erupted from the sun on Thursday (Oct. 28) in the strongest storm yet of our star's current weather cycle. The sun fired off an X1-class solar flare, its most powerful kind of flare, at 11:17 a.m. EDT (1517 GMT), according to an alert from the U.S. Space Weather Prediction Group, which tracks space weather events. The group warned that the eruption could spawn a wide-area radio communications blackout for high-frequency signals for about an hour. "Area of impact consists of large...

Sunspot AR2860 is big… Sunspot AR2860 is angry… And Sunspot AR2860 is directly facing Earth.

The flare region can be seen on the right. (NASA/SDO) The Sun appears to be waking up from the quiet period of its 11-year cycle. On 3 July 2021, at 14:29 UTC (10:29 EDT), our wild star spat out its first X-class flare of Solar Cycle 25; it was the most powerful flare we've seen since September 2017. X-class flares are among the most powerful solar eruptions from our host star, with the mightiest on record being an astonishing X28 in November 2003. This new flare wasn't quite so intense, clocking in at X1.5 - but, even so, it produced...