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The sun released a huge stream of energy on New Year’s Eve
NASA declared it the largest solar flare since September 2017.
READ MORE: Earth will be bombarded by intense solar storms next YEAR
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NASA on Tuesday observed the strongest solar energy explosion since 2017, which has a 25 percent chance of destroying satellites and GPS systems.
The US space agency ship detected energy ejected on New Year’s Eve, sending the flares towards Earth, where the risk of radio blackouts was reported for Tuesday.
The images show a bright region on the Sun, which becomes brighter before exploding and releasing an X5 flare (the highest level) from the edge of the massive star.
NASA said the last time it observed a flare like this was on September 10, 2017, when it recorded an X8.2 flare that caused radio blackouts for hours.
NASA on Tuesday observed the strongest burst of solar energy since 2017, which has a 25 percent chance of destroying satellites and GPS systems.
‘Solar flares are powerful explosions of energy. “Solar flares and flares can affect radio communications, power grids, navigation signals, and pose risks to spacecraft and astronauts,” NASA shared in the announcement.
‘This flare is classified as an X5.0 flare. The X class denotes the most intense flares, while the number provides more information about their strength.’
The solar flare peaked at 5 p.m. ET on December 31, creating a stunning spectacle for NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, a probe that has investigated the sun since its launch in 2010.
While the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) clarified that the general public had nothing to fear, the agency warned that the flare could disrupt high frequency radio signals.
NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) predicted that Earth could experience a minor geomagnetic storm, a temporary disturbance in Earth’s magnetosphere caused by a solar wind shock wave.
The event can cause satellites to crawl through space, hampering their capabilities.
While the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) clarified that the general public had nothing to fear, the agency warned that the flare could disrupt high-frequency radio signals.
NASA also released an image of the event showing a mix of yellow, orange, brown and black colors.
NASA also released an image of the event showing a mix of yellow, orange, brown and black colors.
The agency predicts that a coronal mass ejection (CME) will skim past Earth.
CME can eject billions of tons of coronal material from the sun’s surface. The material is made up of plasma and magnetic fields.
These eruptions have the potential to trigger space weather that can interfere with Earth’s satellites and power grids and can be harmful to unprotected astronauts.
While this is the strongest solar flare detected in six years, NASA records show that the largest ever recorded occurred in 2003.
On November 4, 2003, the sun unleashed an X45 flare, but it was initially detected as an X28.
A study published by the American Geophysical Union in March 2004 determined that it was a “huge” X45.
Neil Thomson, one of the study’s authors, said: “This makes it more than twice as large as any previously recorded flare, and if the particles and accompanying magnetic storm had been aimed at Earth, the damage to some satellites and power grids could have been considerable.
The researchers said their calculations show that the X-ray radiation from the flare that bombarded the atmosphere was equivalent to 5,000 suns, although none reached the Earth’s surface.