Most Powerful Solar Flare In 12 Year Emerges Over 48 Hours

Swedish Solar Telescope captures large solar flare

Scientists have captured the moment a massive burst of radiation erupted from the sun, in the largest solar flare observed in over 12 years.

Using the Swedish Solar Telescope in La Palma, the researchers were able to gather ‘unheard of’ views of the powerful event in the opening moments of its life.

The flare spotted on Wednesday was one of three events known as X-category flares that took place over the course of 48 hours, with each reaching energies comparable to one billion hydrogen bombs.

Using the Swedish Solar Telescope in La Palma, the researchers were able to gather ‘unheard of’ views of the powerful event in the opening moments of its life, as seen in the video above. The largest flare occurred at 13:00 GMT (9:00 a.m.) and had an energy level of X9.3

‘It’s very unusual to observe the opening minutes of a flare’s life,’ said Dr Chris Nelson from the Solar Physics and Space Plasma Research Centre.

‘We can only observe about 1/250th of the solar surface at any one time using the Swedish Solar Telescope, so to be in the right place at the right time requires a lot of luck.

‘To observe the rise phases of three X-classes over two days is just unheard of.’

According to the team, an X-class flare can form and reach its peak intensity in roughly five minutes, making it difficult to catch the opening moments when these events emerge.

But in this case, the researchers were able to do so for three.

One of these flares was the largest seen in over 12 years, and the 8th largest in modern records, which began in 1996.

‘The sun is currently in what we call solar minimum,’ said Dr Aaron Reid, a research fellow at Queen’s University Belfast’s Astrophysics Research Center.

‘The number of Active Regions, where flares occur, is low, so to have X-class flares so close together is very usual.

‘These observations can tell us how and why these flares formed so we can better predict them in the future.’

With these high-detail observations, researchers can investigate the conditions in which these events form.

This could help scientists create more accurate ways to predict them in the future.

And, it could help to better protect satellites and other instruments.

‘Solar flares are the most energetic events in our solar system and can have a major impact on earth,’ said Professor Mihalis Mathioudakis, who led the project at Queen’s University Belfast.

‘The dedication and perseverance of our early career scientists who planned and executed these observations led to the capture of this unique event and have helped to advance our knowledge in this area.’

The flare that erupted from the sun last week was the biggest seen in 12 years, and caused radio blackouts on Earth.

Two high-intensity solar flares were emitted, the second of which was the most intense recorded since 2005, the Space Weather Prediction Centre (SWPC) said.

The biggest solar flare seen for 12 years erupted from the sun last week, causing radio blackouts on Earth. Two high-intensity solar flares were emitted in total, both captured by Nasa’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) satellite in this animation (credit: Nasa)

Just days later, NASA said the storms are continuing, with what the space agency says is a ‘mid-level solar flare’ that peaked at 3:49 a.m. EDT on Friday.

It was the sixth sizable flare from the same active region since Sept. 4, NASA said.

And, the event caused stunning auroras over northeast America, and even as low as Alabama and northern California.

The earlier flares knocked out radio communications for one hour on the Earth’s side facing the sun, as well as low-frequency communications used in navigation.

During larger solar flares, the sun can also fire out a cloud of energetic plasma in an event called a coronal mass ejection (CME). Yesterday’s category X eruptions triggered a massive coronal mass ejection (pictured), which was also captured by SDO (credit: Nasa)