Huge X1 solar flare erupts on Sun, scientists worried about possible radio blackout on Earth

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which is an American scientific and regulatory agency, has claimed that the Earth is being bombarded by non-stop geomagnetic storms since March 30. These geomagnetic storms are likely to continue till tomorrow. However, scientists are worried about another massive solar flare which has erupted on the sun.

This solar flare is much bigger than any solar flare witnessed early this week.

According to scientists, this is the first X-class solar flare that has been spotted in a long time. The potential disruptions that this solar flare can cause can be understood from the fact that soon after its eruption, there was a temporary shortwave radio blackout on Earth.

Scientists are worried about this solar flare because of the destructive power that it possesses. As per study, the solar prominence came from the infamous AR2975 region on the Sun. This area has been bombarding the Earth with geomagnetic storms this whole week.

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Raising an alert about the potential disruption that this solar flare can cause, the NOAA has released a warning message saying, “An X1 flare (R3 - Strong Radio Blackout) occurred at 1:37 pm EDT (11:07 pm IST) March 30th, 2022. The flare source location was from the magnetically complex sunspot group, Region 2975. Initial indications are this flare was associated with a new coronal mass ejection (CME)”

It is crucial to note that this solar flare is powerful enough to initiate a powerful geomagnetic storm that can severely damage satellites. Notably, the higher altitudes of the northern hemisphere have witnessed nice auroras this whole week.

Based on an application that is dedicated to aurora and space weather, the recent solar flare emitted a maximum X-ray flux of X1.38. This massive eruption makes it the second strongest solar flare of this entire 11-year solar cycle.

In case this solar flare hits the Earth, it can significantly damage thos communication systems and satellites.

Notably, the region AR2975 is not centrally aligned to Earth and hence it is highly likely that it the solar flare won’t hit us.