The strongest flare since 2019! It will continue in the next three days and may affect the power grid and navigation signals

According to the National Space Weather Monitoring and Early Warning Center (hereinafter referred to as the "Space Weather Center"), from 9:00 on October 2 to 9:00 on October 3, the sun erupted a total of 5 M-class flares, geomagnetic activity was calm to slightly disturbed, and ionospheric flickering occurred in southern China .

At 21:13 on October 3, senior engineer @Space Weather-Ocean of the Technology Research and Development Office of the Space Weather Center released the latest news that at 20:18 on the 3rd, a flare activity broke out in the solar active region 13842 , with a peak intensity of X9.0, reaching the level of a large flare . It is explained that the intensity of solar flare outbreaks ranges from low to high as A, B, C, M and X, with X-level flares being the strongest , and the numbers indicate its intensity scale.

This is the strongest flare erupted by the sun in the 25th solar activity week since 2019 .

At 20:18 Beijing time on October 3, a flare broke out in the solar active region 13842, with a peak intensity of X9.0, reaching the level of a large flare. Image source: Space Weather-Ocean

The Space Weather Center said that due to the impact of the coronal mass ejections on September 30 and October 1, moderate to large geomagnetic storms are expected on October 4 , and small geomagnetic storms are expected on October 5. Due to the possible outbreak of M-level or higher flares, ionospheric disturbances are expected from October 4 to 6. It is expected that the solar activity level will be moderate to high in the next three days, and the possibility of M-level or higher flares is high, and ionospheric disturbances may occur .

Solar flare eruptions show a cyclical variation of about 11 years. The 25th solar activity cycle began in 2019 and is currently experiencing its rising phase . Solar activity will gradually increase over time and will calm down at the end of the cycle.

Solar flares are a phenomenon in which a local area of ​​the solar atmosphere suddenly brightens, accompanied by a sharp increase in electromagnetic radiation, a large amount of high-energy charged particle flow and coronal mass ejections. When the matter and energy ejected by these activities reach near-Earth space, they will strongly disturb the Earth's magnetosphere, ionosphere and upper atmosphere, which may affect the performance and safety of satellites, and affect radio communications, power grids, navigation signals, etc. on Earth .

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Source: Guangming.com, Chengshi Interactive, Nanfang.com, CCTV International News

Editor: He Tong

Proofread by Xu Lailinlin