Solar activity has continued days after a geomagnetic storm hit Earth, and the Sun is expected to erupt with more flares this week. A solar flare ejected from the Sun on Sunday, causing a severe shortwave radio blackout over Southern Asia and Australia.
X-flare for Easter! Our Sun celebrates by firing one of the largest flares of this new #solar cycle. Although not in the Earth-strike zone yet, we could see Earth-directed #solarstorms soon. #Aurora, #radio blackouts, #radiation storms, & #GPS issues possible over next two weeks. pic.twitter.com/LrnPQxHkPg
— Dr. Tamitha Skov (@TamithaSkov) April 18, 2022
The X1 class flare was followed by a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) from a group of active sunspots that had previously produced significant flaring before appearing on the Sun’s eastern limb.The flare was classified as a Type II solar radio burst and originated in Regions 2994 and 2993.
It ended up causing a brief radio blackout and was classified as a Type II solar radio blow.As per spaceweather.com, on April 17, the sunspot complex AR2993-94 generated an X1-class solar flare, which could be just the beginning. Right behind it is another potentially huge active area.
“Solar activity is predicted to be active in the next week as these sunspots move across the noticeable disc,” the NOAA-affiliated agency said in an update. Our solar system’s host star had previously emerged, that sent out plasma towards Earth, starting to cause a geomagnetic storm last week.
A solar flare has three stages:
- First, the precursor stage, in which soft X-Ray emissions spark the release of magnetic energy.
- The second stage, dubbed impulsive, includes protons and electrons being accelerated to energies of a million electron volts.
- The third stage is the gradual accumulation and decay of X-Rays.