Sun's fiery temper: Powerful X-class solar flare unleashed by our closest star

 

Credit: NASA/SDO

A strong X-class solar flare erupted from the Sun's surface on Friday, March 3, peaking at 12:52 p.m. EST. This flare was classified as an X2.1 flare by NASA - the most powerful type of flare.

Solar flares are powerful bursts of energy released by the Sun. Caused by tangling, crossing or reorganizing of magnetic field lines near sunspots, flares can last from minutes to hours and cause radio blackouts, disrupt radio communications, electric power grids, navigation signals and even pose risk to the spacecraft and astronauts aboard the space station.

They are not harmful to humans on the ground, as the Earth's atmosphere and magnetic field provide protection from the majority of the particles and radiation released by the Sun.

NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), a spacecraft dedicated to studying the Sun and its behaviour, captured this image of Friday's solar flare. The image shows a subset of extreme ultraviolet light that highlights the extremely hot material in flares, and which is colourized in orange.

The Sun emitted a strong solar flare on March 3, 2023, peaking at 12:52 ET. NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory captured an image of the event, which was classified as X2.1. https://t.co/2bkwGSlVp4 pic.twitter.com/EcOxPpVNzu

— NASA Sun & Space (@NASASun) March 3, 2023

For the unversed, the Sun undergoes a regular cycle of activity that lasts approximately 11 years. The current cycle, Solar Cycle 25, began in December 2019 and is expected to reach its peak (or solar maximum) in 2025. Solar maximum is a period of increased activity on the Sun, during which solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) are more frequent and powerful.

NASA keeps a constant eye on the Sun and our space environment with a fleet of spacecraft and observatories that study the Sun and its effects on interplanetary space. SDO is part of this fleet that has greatly contributed to our understanding of our closest star.