Strong solar flare lands on Earth, shutting down radio signals in parts of Asia and Australia.
In just three months in 2023, this was the seventh such solar explosion.
Ankush Pandey
The top layer of Earth's atmosphere was ionized by a powerful Sun explosion, resulting in a severe shortwave radio blackout over southeast Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. Sunspot AR3256 near the star's southwestern limb in our Solar System was the source of the flare.
Nasa's Solar Dynamics Observatory, which observes the Sun, captured the eruption. This flare was delegated an X1.2 flare. The X-class stands for the strongest flares, and the number tells you more about its strength.
According to Nasa, solar flares produce powerful energy bursts. Spacecraft and astronauts are at risk from flares and solar eruptions that can have an effect on radio communications, electric power grids, and navigation signals.
In just three months in 2023, this was the seventh such solar explosion. It is equivalent to the absolute number of flares that arose out of the Sun in 2022. As the Sun progresses through its solar cycle and approaches peak activity, the explosion indicates a rapid increase in activity.
According to Spaceweather.com, the flare struck Earth on March 29 and ionized the atmosphere, resulting in a signal loss and other propagation effects below 30 MHz, which may have been noticed by Ham radio operators.
The occurrence occurs just a few days after the Earth experienced its strongest geomagnetic storm in three years. A massive explosion from a large coronal hole in the southern hemisphere of the Sun set off the geomagnetic storm.
When there is a very efficient exchange of energy from the solar wind into the space environment surrounding Earth, geomagnetic storms are a major disturbance of the magnetosphere on Earth.
Plasma exploded last week high above the sun's surface, reaching heights equivalent to 14 earthen stacks. In just the past week, the Sun has sparked four notable solar flares, 22 coronal mass ejections, and a geomagnetic storm.
