Over the past Thursday, May 14, 2025, four M-class flares and one X2.5-class flare occurred on the Sun.
At 21:11 Moscow time, an M4.7-class flare occurred in the active region of the Sun with coordinates N17E60, lasting 29 minutes. This is the fourth case of a flare of similar power in the current day.
Earlier on Wednesday, the same area of the solar surface produced three other M-class bursts — M5.3, M1.2, and M7.7, as well as one extreme X2.5-class flare.
Solar flares are classified by the intensity of X-ray radiation reaching Earth's orbit. The scale includes five categories: from a minimum of A0.0 (10 nanowatts/m²) to a maximum of X, where each subsequent class is ten times more powerful than the previous one. Powerful energy emissions are often accompanied by coronal mass ejections — clouds of charged particles that, when reaching our planet, cause geomagnetic storms.
If the ejected plasma cloud collides with the Earth's magnetosphere, magnetic storms of level G3–G4 may begin in the coming days. Strong magnetic storms can disrupt navigation, cause failures in radio transmissions, and even damage transformers.
According to current geophysical forecasts, powerful magnetic storms are not expected. The main mass of solar matter is moving towards Mars, located at an angle of about 70 degrees to the Sun–Earth line. The Red Planet is likely to collide with a stream of plasma in the coming days. On Earth, the geomagnetic situation remains stable — the forecast maintains a "green" level. Minor fluctuations are associated with the natural dynamics of the solar wind, not with the latest flares.
Read more on the topic:
Several magnetic storms are expected on Earth in May 2025: forecast by Russian astronomers
The Sun is "storming": a flare of the penultimate power class was recorded on May 14
Less than a day has passed: the most powerful flare this year occurred on the Sun on May 14
