A massive X class solar flare was unleashed by the sun yesterday that has resulted to fluctuations in the ionosphere. The flare was quite strong and even had the potential to cause a blackout as it can impact the communication system and the global positioning system. The report came from the Centre of Excellence in Space Sciences in India.
The flare had erupted from the southwest direction of the sun and thus impacted countries like India, Asia Pacific regions and South East Asia.
According to reports from an associate professor from Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, “ The X2.2 class solar flare eruption took place at 3.57 UTC from the solar magnetic active region AR12992.
Meaning of Solar Flare?
These are basically powerful radiation of the sun that erupts high energy from the surface of the sun. These are generally associated with sunspots. The phenomena causes disturbances on earth thus effecting satellite communications , power grids, signals and also poses a threat of risk to rockets and to the asronauts.
A solar flare can be measure by the energy output it releases, the smallest ones are A class followed by B,C, M, X.
The solar flare that was reported yesterday falls underthe category of X2 which can be deemed as a severe one.
As per the tweet posted by CESSI, “expected high frequency communication blackouts, satellite anomalies, GPS scintillations, airline communication impacts”.
