Class X flare, One of the most powerful emitted by the sun, reached the Earth in a solar tsunami. This happened on February 17, It caused radio outages of up to an hour in various parts of the American continent.
specialized portal space climate Reported fact, based on data from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
This event was planned, but scientists They believed that the X-class flare would come from the much larger sunspot AR2336.
The most powerful solar flares
according to live science, Impulse classes include Classes A, B, C, M and X, Each one ten times more powerful than the previous one. They are also divided From 1 to 9 Except for class X revolutions, which is the upper limit.
The glow, which became Earth’s solar tsunami, spread across the visible surface of the star. NASA defines a solar tsunami as A giant wave of hot plasma, it can travel up to 901,000 kilometers per hour through the photosphere, reaching heights of about 100,000 kilometers.
With its appearance also occurred a solar flare of the second type, an outpouring of ultraviolet and X-rays, which hit Earth soon after.
Hear the ‘solar tsunami’ score captured by a citizen scientist
As Live Science points out, upper atmosphere radiation, It caused minor radio outages in parts of the American continent for an hour.
using the Citizen Scientist radio telescope Thomas Ashcraft He captured an audio recording of the explosion as it hit the ground. lasts 1 minute 13 seconds, You can listen to it here.
“The sun was in the beam of my radio telescope when the flare occurred,” Ashcraft referred to space weather. With this he captured the “full force” of the explosion, which would not have happened if his telescope had not been pointed at the Sun King.
Our ultimate star the most active phase of the 11-year cycle, whose peak will happen in 2025. So these types of events are going to be more common than expected.