Sun Increasingly Blasting Earth with Powerful X-Class Solar Flares, Scientists Warn

Scientists are warning that Earth is being struck by a growing number of powerful solar flares as activity on the Sun intensifies, disrupting communications and raising concerns about looming additional impacts.

The Sun opened December with a major eruption: an X1.9-class solar flare, one of the strongest categories of flare measured.

The blast briefly knocked out radio communications across Australia and parts of Southeast Asia.

Coronagraph imagery from NASA and ESA’s SOHO spacecraft showed a rapid partial-halo coronal mass ejection (CME), a burst of plasma and magnetic field, launching from the Sun’s northeast limb.

Modeling confirmed the CME was not directed toward Earth.

Massive Sunspot Cluster AR4294 Now Turning Toward Earth

The more significant concern, scientists say, is the enormous sunspot region trailing behind the flare.

The cluster has been designated AR4294.

It has grown so large and magnetically complex that NOAA has divided it into three separate numbered regions.

AR4294 is the same sunspot area that produced multiple X-class flares last month.

However, it has only expanded since.

As the region rotates into direct view of Earth, forecasters warn that additional strong flares are increasingly likely.

NOAA predicts a continued risk of M-class flares and a slight chance of additional X-class events.

No Earth-directed CMEs have been identified yet.

But heightened activity from AR4294 could change that quickly.

Minor Geomagnetic Storming Expected Soon

For now, geomagnetic conditions remain quiet.

However, NOAA expects that to shift when a negative-polarity coronal hole stream is forecast to reach Earth, potentially triggering minor (G1) geomagnetic storming.

With one of the most active and complex sunspot clusters of the current solar cycle moving into position, space-weather officials say additional warnings may follow.

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