Solar Flares : Disrupted Radio Communications Over Parts Of The United States
The Sun emitted an X-class solar flares which disrupted radio communications over parts of the United States and the Pacific Ocean.
- Solar flares are magnetic plasma ejected at great speed from the solar surface.
- They occur during the release of magnetic energy associated with sunspots (‘dark’ regions on the Sun that are cooler than the surrounding photosphere), and can last for a few minutes or hours.
- These flares can be divided into various categories based on their brightness in X-ray wavelengths
- There are five different classes of solar flares: A, B, C, M, and X.
- Each class is at least ten times more potent than the one before it.
- X-class flares are large and M-class are medium-sized flares typically result in brief radio blackouts that affect the Earth’s Polar Regions.
- C-class flares are slight and have little effect on the Earth.
