Gigantic sunspot, wide enough to fill 15 worlds, hits Earth with powerful X-class solar flare
Screengrab of the solar flare erupting from the surface of the sun.
Massive sunspot AR3664: A gigantic sunspot, AR3664, on thesurface of thesunballooned and grew so massive that it can fit 15 Earths and has become the most active one in the current solar cycle.
Now, this gigantic sunspot released a powerfulX-class solar flare towards the Earthwhichledto radio blackouts in various areas.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Space Weather Prediction Center had earlier this weekissued a warningof increasedsolar flarerisk from theSun.
"Region 3664 has grown considerably and has become much more magnetically complex,"read NOAA's SWPC reports. "This hasled toincreased solar flare probabilities over the next several days," it added.
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The giant sunspot has fired more powerful solar flaresin recent daysthan estimated.Thisincluded a colossal X-class solar flarewhichwasreleased on May 9 morning and peaked at 5:13 amEDT (0913 GMT).
Solar flares are eruptions from thesurface of thesunwhichrelease intense bursts of electromagnetic radiation. According to their size, the solar flares have been categorised into lettered groups and the X-classis considered the most powerful.
Because of this, the X-flare led to shortwave radio blackouts across parts of Europe and Africa. The radio blackouts happened due to extreme ultraviolet radiationwhichwasreleasedduring the eruptionandthe strong pulse of X-rays.
Sunspot visible from Earth
The sunspot AR3664,whichisspreadacross 124,000 (200,000 kilometres), is currently 15 times wider than Earth, as per Spaceweather.com.
The sunspot is sohugethat it is visible from Earth withoutany need formagnification. Thosewho havea pair ofsolar eclipseglassescan use them to observe thesunand observe the mammoth sunspot cross the solar disk.
NASA shares images of dancing loops
In a recent post, NASA shared two GIFs (graphics interchange format)whichcaptured the momenttwo powerful solar flareswere unleashedby thesun.
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The two solar flares erupted on May 7 and May 8 from the sunspots AR3663 and AR3664.
"You make a loop-de-loop and pull, and yourSunis lookingcool! Late at night on May 7 and in the wee hours of May 8, theSunemitted this powerful pair of solar flares. These two energetic flashes with dancing loopswere capturedby @NASAGoddard's Solar Dynamics Observatory, which always has its eye on theSun," wroteNASA,in thecaption of the post.
"The Sun-like even the most vibrant people-isnota constant ray of sunshine. It constantly cycles through periods of higher and lower activity. High activity can lead to these solar flares, or dramaticexplosions of energyout from theSun," NASA added.
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(With inputs from agencies)