Solar flares can send charged particles across vast distances and if they erupt while aimed our way, they can cause issues here on Earth. Recently, our central star released some of its most powerful bursts in the form of several X-class flares.
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00:00Solar flares can send charged particles across vast distances, and if they erupt while aiming
00:08our way, they can cause issues here on Earth.
00:12And recently our central star released some of its most powerful bursts in the form of
00:16several X-class flares.
00:18On May 5th, the Sun released an X-1.3 and an X-1.2 flare.
00:23Each of the flares caused a radio blackout on Earth, causing communications disruptions
00:27in Australia, Japan, and China.
00:30The flares erupted from a particularly active part of the Sun, which is currently aimed
00:34our way, with more than 150 collective sunspots in those areas.
00:38So far, a single one of these sunspot clusters, named AR3663, is the most wild, emitting 14
00:44M-class and 3 X-class flares since the end of last month.
00:48Solar scientists say they expect a few more of each class of flare before the Sun eventually
00:52rotates the active area away from Earth.
00:55Other flares occur as the Sun's magnetic field lines snap and reconnect on its surface.
00:59This results in utterly huge eruptions of plasma, and when it involves a coronal mass
01:03ejection, that plasma and other charged particles are sent careening through space.
01:08NOAA predicts that an X-1.6 flare that occurred on May 3rd might cause a geomagnetic storm
01:13in North America on May 6th, causing a number of issues in the northernmost USA.