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The Sun continues to ramp up activity towards a “solar maximum” in a spectacular fashion, just as expected. On June 3, NASA’s Solar Observatory (SDO) captured a stunning M-class solar flare. The flare was technically known as a “failed ejection,” with most of the plume simply being sucked back towards the star’s surface.
“Physics at work,” solar astrophysicist Ryan French wrote in a post on X on Monday, shortly after the event. French went on to explain that the NASA video and images appear to show a “classic example” of a failed eruption, which occurs when electromagnetic radiation fails to escape the Sun’s immense gravity.
As Space.com The strength of a solar flare is measured using an alphabetical rating system that measures the peak radiation of low-energy, long-wavelength “soft X-rays” in watts per square meter (W/m2). X is the most intense class, followed by M, C, B, and A, each ten times weaker than the previous letter. Flares are also assigned a scale of 1 to 10 to indicate their relative strength.
[Related: Why our tumultuous sun was relatively quiet in the late 1600s.]
In this case, the event was measured at M4.8. Space WeatherM-class flares frequently produce waves of plasma and magnetic fields called coronal mass ejections (CMEs), which can cause destructive geomagnetic storms and colorful atmospheric auroras if they reach Earth. In this case, however, the M-class flare was a dud in terms of a CME.
“It appears that almost all of the plasma associated with the M4 flare ejection has fallen back into the Sun and been reabsorbed, causing only small ejections to appear on coronagraph images,” meteorologist and space weather forecaster Sarah Hussir added in her social media post.
That means that while it’s still a sight to behold thanks to satellite images, it’s unlikely to have any impacts on Earth. While it may be unfortunate for aurora chasers, less CME activity also means that the numerous satellite arrays on Earth, which are susceptible to electromagnetic waves, are less likely to be damaged. SpaceX wasn’t so lucky in 2022 when a geomagnetic storm knocked about 40 Starlink satellites out of orbit. At the time, some experts expressed surprise at the outcome, given that the storm itself was “by no means a major event.” Earlier this spring, NASA also captured footage of a rare quadruple “super-resonant” solar flare, which astronomers warned could cause similar electronic problems. Luckily, there have been few subsequent reports.
[Related: Rare quadruple solar flare event captured by NASA.]
But such events remain a growing concern, given how dependent modern society is on global satellite communications. While many companies now devote significant resources to redundancy and backup programs, solar predictions are still often inaccurate and more funding and research is needed. But it’s still amazing to see an event like Monday’s solar flare in such detail, and thankfully from such a distance.
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