This morning, a massive solar flare spewing into space at light speed reminds us that the sun is at—or is very close to—the peak of its 11-year magnetic activity cycle.
After a month of relatively low activity, at 0130 UTC on March 23, the sun produced an “X1.1 class” solar flare—followed by almost a dozen smaller “M-class” solar flares and a bright coronal mass ejection.
It could mean bright aurora—and an extra special sight during April 8’s total solar eclipse, an event already predicted to show onlookers a huge coronal streamer.
An ‘Eclipse CME’
Since it traveled to Earth at the speed of light, the solar flare caused a temporary radio blackout over the western Pacific Ocean. According to SpaceWeather.com, the CME triggered by the solar flare is likely to cause G1-class (minor) to G3-class (strong) geomagnetic storms on Earth late on Monday, March 25, and early on Tuesday, March 26.
G1 would mean aurora around the Arctic Circle, whereas G3 would mean aurora visible from the northern U.S. states on the border with Canada.
However, what would really excite solar physicists—and eclipse chasers—is if a CME went off during the 100 minutes that the totally eclipsed sun will be visible across North America on April 8.
Electromagnetic Eruption
A solar flare is an eruption of electromagnetic radiation in the sun’s atmosphere caused by twisted magnetic fields above a sunspot. Sunspots are cooler, darker regions of the sun’s surface that form when chunks of its magnetic field rise from deep within our star.
However, according to Dr. Ryan French, a solar physicist at the National Solar Observatory in Boulder, Colorado and the author of The Sun: Beginner’s Guide To Our Local Star, this was a double solar flare. “I’m blown away by the physical size of the northern flare!” wrote French. “A HUGE volume.”
It Takes Two
“The sun just produced a solar flare so strong, it took two sunspots to make it,” stated SpaceWeather.com. Unusually, the X1.1 solar flare resulted from two sunspots, AR3615 and AR3615, because of an “unseen physical connection.”
When a solar flare occurs, it’s often followed by a coronal mass ejection—a massive release of plasma and magnetic field from the sun’s corona (outer atmosphere). When a CME reaches Earth, it can cause geomagnetic storms, leading to the acceleration of charged particles and the appearance of the northern lights.
Solar Cycle Ramps Up
It’s not unusual for the sun to reach a high level of magnetic activity—that occurs roughly every 11 years—but it’s not certain that the preset Solar Cycle 25 is stronger than the previous Solar Cycle 24. “That is the first X flare in 30 days and the 28th of Solar cycle 25 (compared to 15 in SC24 at the same stage),” said solar physicist Dr. Keith Strong on X.
According to NASA, solar flares are classified by severity, with B-class followed by C, M, and X—much like how the Richter scale works for earthquakes. The jump from one letter to the next constitutes a ten-fold increase in energy output.
Wishing you clear skies and wide eyes.