The Latest Solar Flare Hitting Earth Indicates It Has Reached the “Flash Point” in Its Cycle.
The strongest geomagnetic storm in over six years occurred after a rare dual X-class solar flare disrupted Earth’s magnetic field, explaining a series of “strange phenomena” reported from Australia, New Zealand, and the United States over the past weekend.
This event illuminated the sky in many areas with dazzling auroras and other glowing phenomena.
The sun may soon reach its “flash point” in the 11-year cycle – (Graphic image).
According to Live Science, this explosive event is another clear sign that the Sun may have reached the flash point in its 11-year cycle, known as “solar maximum.”
In the coming months, Earth may be in the line of fire of more solar flares and coronal mass ejections from the Sun.
According to Spaceweather.com, the X-class solar flare, with an intensity of up to 1.1, is the largest that our mother star can produce, beginning to flare up on March 23.
This event is particularly unusual because this flare produced two simultaneous explosions impacting Earth’s magnetosphere, a rare phenomenon known as “sympathetic solar flares.”, ejected by the pair of sunspots AR3614 and AR3615 separated by thousands of miles.
The double explosion accompanied by a coronal mass ejection (CME) allowed solar radiation to penetrate deeper into the atmosphere than usual. This is the reason for the unusual auroras in many regions of Australia and New Zealand, as well as the purple STEVE light band resembling auroras (also known as a strong thermal emission enhancement) in Alaska, USA.
According to the Space Weather Prediction Center of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the geomagnetic storm caused by this X-class flare reached G4 level, which is a form of extreme geomagnetic storm, second only to G5.
NOAA also suggests that the unusual nature of this double explosion and the excessively strong flare is a sign that the Sun is nearing its peak.
Geomagnetic storms are often difficult to perceive directly; however, radio systems, navigation, communication, satellite launch activities, and other human endeavors can experience disruptions due to excessively strong geomagnetic storms. Therefore, monitoring space weather is always of paramount importance.
