Sun Unleashes Fourth Solar Flare, Briefly Causing Radio Blackout

[News_Editor]

<p>WASHINGTON, D.C. (BNO NEWS) -- The Sun unleashed a fourth significant solar flare Wednesday as it approaches the solar maximum during its activity cycle, briefly causing limited interruptions to high-frequency radio communications, the U.S. Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) said.

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<p>The space agency said the Sun emitted a fourth X-class flare from its upper left limb, peaking at 0148 GMT on Wednesday (9:48 p.m. EDT on Tuesday). It said the flare, which was captured on camera by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory, was classified as an X1.2 flare, making it the 18th X-class flare of the current solar cycle.

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<p>Solar flares are powerful bursts of radiation that, when intense enough, can disturb the atmosphere in the layer where GPS and communications signals travel. NASA said Wednesday's flare caused a brief radio blackout that was categorized as an R3, or strong, on NOAA's space weather scale that ranges from R1 to R5.

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<p>Wednesday's flare was also associated with a non-Earth-directed coronal mass ejection (CME), which is different from a flare as solar flares are powerful bursts that send light and radiation into space while CMEs erupt with billions of tons of solar material. They frequently occur together.

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<p>Experimental NASA research models show Wednesday's CME left the Sun at around 745 miles (1,199 kilometers) per second, beginning at 0218 GMT (10:18 p.m. EDT Tuesday). It was not Earth-directed but, as it may pass the Spitzer and Epoxi orbits, their mission operators were notified.

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<p>"If warranted, operators can put spacecraft into safe mode to protect the instruments from solar material," NASA said in a statement.

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<p>NASA observed the third significant solar flare at 0111 GMT on Tuesday (09:11 p.m. EDT Monday). The flare was classified as an X3.2 flare, making it the strongest X-class flare of 2013 so far, surpassing in strength the two other X-class flares that were observed on Monday.

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<p>"X-class" denotes the most intense flares, while the number provides more information about its strength. An X2 is twice as intense as an X1, an X3 is three times as intense, etc. Harmful radiation from such flares cannot pass through Earth's atmosphere to physically affect humans on the ground.

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<p>Increased numbers of flares are quite common at the moment because the Sun's 11-year activity cycle is ramping up toward solar maximum, which is expected later this year. Humans have tracked the solar cycle continuously since it was discovered in 1843, and it is normal for there to be many flares a day during the Sun's peak activity.

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<p>The first X-class flare of the current solar cycle occurred on February 15, 2011, with the largest an X6.9 on August 9, 2011.

</p> <p> (Copyright 2013 by BNO News B.V. All rights reserved. Info: [email protected].) </p>

[Credo]

Are these ever strong enough to endanger life on Earth?

[GentlemanJim]

Are these ever strong enough to endanger life on Earth?

In theory, not as far as we have encountered but it would be accurate to say that these days they could albeit indirectly. The energy bursts from the flares could be strong enough to knock out electrics and the effect would be similar to an electro magnetic pulse in that the word 'knock out' would mean just that, your devices would not be back on line after 10 mins or several hours. So as much of our civilization in modern cities relies on electricity and the associated clever devices that run from it then lives could be lost as a result of local/National or even Global power outages. We should have warning of such an event though as the energy burst would take 24-48 hours to 'hit' us. Scientists seem to be able to measure quite accurately the strength of the bursts and I believe it is only when we start to get to X6 + that it would commence being a concern and I understand the bursts would have to be much stronger than X6 to cause the kind of damage I am describing, BUT it has happened a lot in the past and it will happen again, and this year is forecast to be very 'special' in terms of sunspot/sun flare activity. You could always make a small faraday cage to protect your mobiles and ipads (not that there would be a network afterwards though ). I think cars are a natural faraday cage so just throw all your electrics in there I guess.

[Chicog]

We are just a blip in the history of time, there could be any sort of danger facing the earth. The only thing we know with a degree of certainty is that at some time in the future the sun will expand, but it will be a relatively slow roast rather than three minutes in the microwave on High.

[Tywais]

Just hope a magnetic pole reversal doesn't happen at the same time. That's Earth's pole reversal, the Sun polar reversal happens every 11 years. Pole reversal

[Tywais]

New Solar Flare Packs the Power of Millions of H-Bombs

Last night the sun unleashed its latest tirade: the third flare in as many days, and the most powerful one in 2013 so far.

Exploding from the Sun’s surface with energy equivalent to millions of 100-megaton hydrogen bombs, the flare spewed intense radiation into space. It peaked last night at 9:11 p.m. EDT.

It was not directed toward Earth, but NASA says solar material from all three of the recent flares will pass by the Spitzer Space Telescope and could give a “glancing blow” to the STEREO-B and Epoxi spacecraft. All these spacecraft can be put into a protective safe mode.

The latest eruption was characterized as an X3.2-class flare. The X-class category is the most powerful, and each step up in number indicates a doubling of energy. So this flare was more than twice as powerful as Sunday’s X1.7-class flare.

Discover Magazine

[Tywais]

[Scott]

Thanks. Reminds me of just how small and insignificant we are.

[Steely Dan]

These flares are happening as frequently as U.S administration scandals, I don't suppose they are in any way related?

[Salapoo]

Are these ever strong enough to endanger life on Earth?

No, but they cause lots of </p> and <p>'s to appear on your compter screen.