Powerful solar flare sparks risk of strong magnetic storm on Earth

A cloud of plasma ejected from an X1.5-class solar flare may trigger a strong geomagnetic storm on Earth, TASS reports, citing the Solar Astronomy Laboratory of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) and the Institute of Solar-Terrestrial Physics of the Siberian Branch of RAS.

“The coronagraph data have arrived. The forecast has been updated to a more severe level, as the ejection is clearly heading ‘straight toward’ the observer. The geomagnetic storm is preliminarily expected at G3 intensity,” the statement said.

This flare is the Sun’s first of the highest X-class in nearly two months. Solar flares are categorised by X-ray emission strength into five classes: A, B, C, M, and X, with A0.0 representing a baseline emission of 10 nanowatts per square meter at Earth orbit. 

Each subsequent class represents a tenfold increase in power. Flares are typically accompanied by plasma ejections, which, upon reaching Earth, can provoke geomagnetic storms.

By Jeyhun Aghazada