Giant Explosion on the Sun

 NASA captures giant explosion on the Sun as Earth reels under solar storm

Two massive solar flares were seen being released from the sun by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, which are powerful bursts of energy and can affect radio communications, electric power grids, and navigation signals. The flares were categorised by NASA as X5.8 and X1.5-class flares. The largest solar flares are classified as X-class. B-class solar flares are the smallest; C and M classes come next. Each letter denotes a ten-fold increase in energy production, making them comparable to the Richter scale used to measure earthquakes. Following are the some of the important points:-          

The Sun emitted two strong solar flares on May 10 and 11 which were recorded by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory.                

NASA recorded two strong solar flares on May 10 and 11

The flares were captured by the Solar Dynamics Observatory of the agency

Solar flares can impact radio communications and power grids

According to a statement released by NASA, the agency's Solar Dynamics Observatory recorded two solar flares that peaked at 9.23 pm (local time) on May 10 and at 7.44 am (local time) on May 11, respectively. The observatory also captured several images of the event.  Releasing the photos of the event on its X account, NASA Sun & Space tweeted, "The Sun emitted two strong solar flares on May 10-11, 2024, peaking at 9:23 p.m. EDT on May 10, and 7:44 a.m. EDT on May 11. NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory captured images of the events, which were classified as X5.8 and X1.5-class flares."

X-class flares have a power greater than ten times that of an X1, meaning they can exceed nine. Space agencies saw the strongest known flare during the solar maximum in 2003. The flare was eventually calculated to be at X45 when the sensors which were monitoring it became overloaded and shut off at X17. Prolonged radiation storms can be produced by these X-class flares. Such X-class flares, according to a NASA, have the potential to damage satellites, cause protracted radiation storms, and even slightly increase the radiation doses of passengers on aeroplanes.

The solar flares are powerful bursts of energy. Flares and solar eruptions can impact radio communications, electric power grids, and navigation signals, and pose risks to spacecraft and astronauts, NASA said in its statement. The flares are classified as X5.8 and X1.5-class flares, respectively. X-class denotes the most intense flares, while the number provides more information about its strength, it added. “Solar flares are powerful bursts of radiation. Harmful radiation from a flare cannot pass through Earth’s atmosphere to physically affect humans on the ground. However, when intense enough, they can disturb the atmosphere in the layer where GPS & communications signals travel,” NASA in its tweet said. After stunning people in the US, Tasmania and the Bahamas the day before, auroras lit up the skies over large portions of the world on Saturday for the second night in a row. The dazzling celestial displays, known as the “northern lights,” are typically limited to the planet’s far north due to a strong solar storm that may last until Sunday.

Powerful, repeated eruptions like those we’ve had recently can widen the auroral oval, pushing aurora to lower latitudes. Earlier, a crimson glow also lit up the dark sky in parts of Ladakh and other parts of the world in a rare stable auroral red arc event at the Hanle Dark Sky Reserve in the high Himalayas due to the strong solar magnetic storms launched towards Earth. According to experts, these lights, also known as Aurora, are a rare atmospheric phenomenon which appears as a band of reddish light seen in the sky. Unlike traditional auroras which display a variety of colours in dynamic patterns, the auroral arcs have a fixed colour and remain static. These arcs are a unique occurrence witnessed during potent geomagnetic storms.