Sunspot could unleash terrifying X-class solar flares! Solar storm on the cards too?

Solar activity has been on the rise for the past few months, and it is expected to increase further until solar maximum, the period of greatest solar activity during the Sun’s 11-year cycle. Just last month, a menacing cloud of coronal mass ejection, erupting from a sunspot that was 20 times wider than Earth, struck the planet and unleashed a horrifying solar storm that caught everyone off guard. This was later declared the most devastating solar storm in 6 years.

Now, forecasters have discovered a sunspot on the solar surface which could hurl dangerous solar flares.

Solar flare risk

According to a report by spaceweather.com, NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) has observed a sunspot, named AR3288, which could unleash dangerous solar energy. This sunspot is dangerous as it currently has an unstable 'delta-class' magnetic field. Although this solar activity might seem harmless due to the distance of the Sun from our planet, they can cause major damage. Because of the unstable nature of this sunspot, there is a chance of not only C-class and M-class solar flares, but also X-class flares!

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) forecasters have revealed that there is a 99% chance for C-class flares, a 35% chance for M-class flares, and a 5% chance for X-class flares. Moreover, this sunspot is almost directly facing Earth, and could hurl out a solar storm towards the planet. As solar flares travel out directly from the flare site, if we can see the flare, we can be impacted by it.

How are solar flares rated?

According to NASA, solar flares are classified according to their strength on the logarithmic scale, similar to how earthquakes are measured. The smallest ones are A-class which occur at near background levels, followed by B, C, M and X. Similar to the Richter scale for earthquakes, each letter represents a 10-fold increase in energy output. So, an X is ten times an M and 100 times a C. Within each letter class there is a finer scale from 1 to 9.

Danger of X-class flares

X-class solar flares can create radiation storms which have the potential to not only harm the satellites but also give small doses of radiation to the people flying in airplanes at the time! Moreover, these devastating flares can disrupt global communications and bring down the power grids to create blackouts, according to NASA.