While social media users admire beautiful images of solar activity on Wednesday night, scientists from the Laboratory of Solar Astronomy of IKI and ISZF SB RAS share intriguing details. An M5-class flare erupted on the far side of the star. What was it – the birth of a new super-storm or the death rattle of a fading sunspot? Let's delve into the details.
How Did Scientists Look "Behind" the Sun?
Earth-based telescopes are blind to what happens on the hemisphere of the star invisible to us. A true cosmic special agent – the Solar Orbiter probe (a joint project of ESA and NASA) – helped to learn about the flare.
This spacecraft moves in a unique elongated orbit. It is currently in an ideal position "behind the Sun," acting as a rearview mirror for Earth-based astronomers. It was this probe that recorded a powerful energy release and transmitted the data to Earth.
M5 Power: Is It A Lot Or A Little?
According to the classification of solar X-ray radiation, flares are divided into classes A, B, C, M, and X.
Class M is the fourth of five power levels (the fourth letter of the "alphabet" of solar fury).
The index 5 means that the flare was quite average for its class, but still capable of causing short-term disruptions in radio communications in the polar regions of the Earth if it were directed at us.
However, there is no need to panic. Scientists reassure: this explosion is not the genesis of a new threat, but the "swan song" of an old active region. The group of sunspots that generated the flare is already in the decay stage. Simply put, the magnetic fields that held this region in tension have depleted and, as a farewell, loudly "slammed the door."
What Will Happen When This Zone Turns Towards Earth?
Due to the Sun's rotation, this fading group of sunspots will come into direct line of sight with Earth in approximately 3–4 days (by the end of the week). What should we expect?
Minimum risks. Since the center is already decaying, the probability of new extreme X-class flares from this zone tends to zero.
Beautiful spectacle. If the remnants of the plasma plume still affect Earth's magnetosphere, the maximum will be weak G1-level geomagnetic disturbances and beautiful auroras in the northern regions.
Scientists will continue to monitor this zone to understand whether this active center has finally "died" or if hidden energy reserves still remain within it.