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Tag Archives: flare
New Clues To Predict When and Where the Sun’s Next Flare Might Explode
NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory captured this image of a solar flare in 2014. The solar flare is the bright flash of light on the right limb of the sun. A burst of solar material erupting out into space can be seen just below it. Credit: NASA/SDO
Flashes on the Sun Could Help Scientists Predict Solar Flares
In the blazing upper atmosphere of the Sun, a team of scientists has found new clues that could help predict when and where the Sun’s next flare might explode.
Using data from
They found that above the regions about to flare, the corona produced small-scale flashes – like small sparklers before the big fireworks.
This information could eventually help improve predictions of flares and space weather storms – the disrupted conditions in space caused by the Sun’s activity. Space weather can affect Earth in many ways: producing auroras, endangering astronauts, disrupting radio communications, and even causing large electrical blackouts.
Two images of a solar active region (NOAA AR 2109) taken by SDO/AIA show extreme-ultraviolet light produced by million-degree-hot coronal gas (top images) on the day before the region flared (left) and the day before it stayed quiet and did not flare (right). The changes in brightness (bottom images) at these two times show different patterns, with patches of intense variation (black & white areas) before the flare (bottom left) and mostly gray (indicating low variability) before the quiet period (bottom right). Credit: NASA/SDO/AIA/Dissauer et al. 2022
Scientists have previously studied how activity in lower layers of the Sun’s atmosphere – such as the photosphere and chromosphere – can indicate impending flare activity in active regions, which are often marked by groups of sunspots, or strong magnetic regions on the surface of the Sun that are darker and cooler compared to their surroundings. The new findings, published in The Astrophysical Journal, add to that picture.
“We can get some very different information in the corona than we get from the photosphere, or ‘surface’ of the Sun,” said KD Leka, lead author on the new study who is also a designated foreign professor at
Artist’s concept of the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). Credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab
For their research, the scientists used a newly created image database of the Sun’s active regions captured by SDO. The publicly available resource, described in a companion paper also in The Astrophysical Journal, combines over eight years of images taken of active regions in ultraviolet and extreme-ultraviolet light. Led by Karin Dissauer and engineered by Eric L. Wagner, the NWRA team’s new database makes it easier for scientists to use data from the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) on SDO for large statistical studies.
“It’s the first time a database like this is readily available for the scientific community, and it will be very useful for studying many topics, not just flare-ready active regions,” Dissauer said.
The NWRA team studied a large sample of active regions from the database, using statistical methods developed by team member Graham Barnes. The analysis revealed small flashes in the corona preceded each flare. These and other new insights will give researchers a better understanding of the physics taking place in these magnetically active regions, with the goal of developing new tools to predict solar flares.
“With this research, we are really starting to dig deeper,” Dissauer said. “Down the road, combining all this information from the surface up through the corona should allow forecasters to make better predictions about when and where solar flares will happen.”
References:
“Properties of Flare-imminent versus Flare-quiet Active Regions from the Chromosphere through the Corona. II. Nonparametric Discriminant Analysis Results from the NWRA Classification Infrastructure (NCI)” by K. D. Leka, Karin Dissauer, Graham Barnes and Eric L. Wagner, 16 January 2023, The Astrophysical Journal.
DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/ac9c04
“Properties of Flare-imminent versus Flare-quiet Active Regions from the Chromosphere through the Corona. I. Introduction of the AIA Active Region Patches (AARPs)” by Karin Dissauer, K. D. Leka and Eric L. Wagner, 16 January 2023, The Astrophysical Journal.
DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/ac9c06
Huge solar flare erupts on the sun from ‘hyperactive’ sunspot
A massive explosion on the sun unleashed a powerful solar flare from a new sunspot on Monday (Jan. 9), one that is slowly turning to face the Earth.
The solar flare erupted at 1:50 p.m. EST (1850 GMT) as a X1.9-class sun storm that caused a temporary, but strong, radio blackout across parts of South America, Central America and the Pacific Ocean, according to a statement (opens in new tab) from the U.S. Space Weather Prediction Center at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. X-class flares are the strongest types of storms from the sun. Monday’s flare came from the same sunspot that fired off an X1.2-class solar flare on Jan. 5, NOAA reported.
“The source is hyperactive sunspot AR3184,” astronomer Tony Phillips of the space weather website SpaceWeather.com wrote in an update (opens in new tab). “None of the debris plumes will hit Earth; the sunspot is not facing our planet. It will turn in our direction later this week.”
Related: The sun’s wrath: Here’s the worst solar storms in history
NASA captured stunning images and video of the solar flare (opens in new tab) with its Solar Dynamics Observatory, a space-based telescope that continually watches the sun in different wavelengths.
Solar flares are intense eruptions from the surface of the sun that explode at a variety of power levels. The weakest flares, classified as A-, B- or C-type storms, are typically minor. The stronger M-class flares can fling charged particles at Earth that supercharge our planet’s auroras, amplifying displays of northern lights and southern lights.
Related: Extreme solar storms can strike out of the blue. Are we prepared?
When aimed directly at Earth, X-class solar flares “can impact radio communications, electric power grids, navigation signals, and pose risks to spacecraft and astronauts,” NASA said in a statement (opens in new tab).
The sun is currently in an active phase of its 11-year weather solar cycle. The current phase is known as Solar Cycle 25, which is expected to peak in 2025.
NASA tracks solar flares and other space weather events by watching the sun with a variety of spacecraft. In addition to the Solar Dynamics Observatory, the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory or SOHO (a joint mission by NASA and the European Space Agency) also regularly watches for space weather events.
Email Tariq Malik at tmalik@space.com (opens in new tab) or follow him @tariqjmalik (opens in new tab). Follow us @Spacedotcom (opens in new tab), Facebook (opens in new tab) and Instagram (opens in new tab).
Sun Unleashes Intense X-Class Solar Flare, With More Blasts Expected
A powerful solar flare exploded on the surface of the sun late Thursday from a complex sunspot that could flare up again very soon, quite literally.
The blast of charged particles was recorded as an X1.2-class flare. X flares are the most powerful category of flares, and can cause geomagnetic storms to affect Earth’s magnetic field with the potential to damage satellites, communications equipment and even the power grid.
The flare was the most powerful seen since at least October.
NASA/SDO
An X1 flare like this one, though, is at the low end of the X-scale. Thus, no immediate damage from the blast itself has been reported just yet, with the exception of a short-wave radio blackout over parts of Australia and the South Pacific. This blackout was the result of the solar flare’s energized blast traveling at the speed of light toward our planet, reaching Earth in a mere eight minutes. Still, it was brief.
However, scientists believe there is surely more in this sunspot’s arsenal.
“Given the size and apparent complexity of this large active region, there’s a good chance the explosions will continue in the days ahead,” writes former NASA astronomer Tony Phillips at Spaceweather.com.
Powerful flares are often accompanied by coronal mass ejections (CMEs) of hot plasma that can be hurled in the direction of Earth but at much slower speeds, taking a day or more to make the journey.
When strong CMEs make a direct impact on Earth, the result can be bright auroral displays at higher latitudes, but also the aforementioned infrastructure damage. So far there’s no report of a CME accompanying Thursday’s flare.
This is a welcome surprise, as the massive and energetically complex sunspot that produced it spent the earlier part of this week blasting powerful flares and CMEs off the far side of the sun. Now that sunspot, which is cataloged as AR3182, is rotating into our direct line of sight from Earth, meaning future CMEs over the next few days may be aimed right at us.
NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center forecasts a 10 percent chance of more X flares over the weekend.
Sun Unleashes Intense X-Class Solar Flare, With More Expected
A powerful solar flare exploded on the surface of the sun late Thursday from a complex sunspot that could, quite literally, flare up again very soon.
The blast of charged particles was recorded as an X1.2-class flare. X flares are the most powerful category of flares, and can cause geomagnetic storms to affect Earth’s magnetic field with the potential to damage satellites, communications equipment and even the power grid.
The flare was the most powerful seen since at least October.
NASA/SDO
An X1 flare like this one, though, is at the low end of the X-scale. Thus, no immediate damage from the blast itself has been reported just yet, with the exception of a short-wave radio blackout over parts of Australia and the South Pacific. This blackout was the result of the solar flare’s energized blast traveling at the speed of light toward our planet, reaching Earth in a mere eight minutes. Still, it was brief.
However, scientists believe there is surely more in this sunspot’s arsenal.
“Given the size and apparent complexity of this large active region, there’s a good chance the explosions will continue in the days ahead,” writes former NASA astronomer Tony Phillips at Spaceweather.com.
Powerful flares are often accompanied by coronal mass ejections (CMEs) of hot plasma that can be hurled in the direction of Earth but at much slower speeds, taking a day or more to make the journey.
When strong CMEs make a direct impact on Earth, the result can be bright auroral displays at higher latitudes, but also the aforementioned infrastructure damage. So far there’s no report of a CME accompanying Thursday’s flare.
This is a welcome surprise, as the massive and energetically complex sunspot that produced it spent the earlier part of this week blasting powerful flares and CMEs off the far side of the sun. Now that sunspot, which is cataloged as AR3182, is rotating into our direct line of sight from Earth, meaning future CMEs over the next few days may be aimed right at us.
NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center forecasts a 10 percent chance of more X flares over the weekend.
Sun Unleashes Powerful X-Class Solar Flare, With More Expected
An intense solar flare exploded on the surface of the sun late Thursday from a complex sunspot that could, quite literally, flare up again very soon.
The blast of charged particles was recorded as an X1.2-class flare. X flares are the most powerful category of flares, and can cause geomagnetic storms to affect Earth’s magnetic field with the potential to damage satellites, communications equipment and even the power grid.
The flare was the most powerful seen since at least October.
NASA/SDO
An X1 flare like this one, though, is at the low end of the X-scale. Thus, no immediate damage from the blast itself has been reported just yet, with the exception of a short-wave radio blackout over parts of Australia and the South Pacific. This blackout was the result of the solar flare’s energized blast traveling at the speed of light toward our planet, reaching Earth in a mere eight minutes. Still, it was brief.
However, scientists believe there is surely more in this sunspot’s arsenal.
“Given the size and apparent complexity of this large active region, there’s a good chance the explosions will continue in the days ahead,” writes former NASA astronomer Tony Phillips at Spaceweather.com.
Powerful flares are often accompanied by coronal mass ejections (CMEs) of hot plasma that can be hurled in the direction of Earth but at much slower speeds, taking a day or more to make the journey.
When strong CMEs make a direct impact on Earth, the result can be bright auroral displays at higher latitudes, but also the aforementioned infrastructure damage. So far there’s no report of a CME accompanying Thursday’s flare.
This is a welcome surprise, as the massive and energetically complex sunspot that produced it spent the earlier part of this week blasting powerful flares and CMEs off the far side of the sun. Now that sunspot, which is cataloged as AR3182, is rotating into our direct line of sight from Earth, meaning future CMEs over the next few days may be aimed right at us.
NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center forecasts a 10 percent chance of more X flares over the weekend.
Previously hidden sunspot unleashes colossal X-class solar flare
A newly emerged sunspot is making its presence known, unleashing a powerful X-class solar flare that triggered shortwave radio blackouts across the South Pacific.
NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory recorded a massive solar flare on Thursday (Jan 5) at 7:45 p.m. EST (0045 GMT on Jan. 6). The outburst blasted out a glowing-hot plasma dome that lingered above the sunspot AR3182 for over an hour, according to Spaceweather.com (opens in new tab). Because of the sun‘s rotation, the lively sunspot will soon face Earth and could continue its explosive activity in the days ahead.
Solar flares are categorized by size into lettered groups, with X-class being the most powerful. Within each class, numbers from 1 to 10 (and beyond, for X-class flares) denote a flare’s relative strength. The recent flare clocked in at X1.2, a relatively weak example of the most powerful class.
AR3182 has also been linked to the violent eruption on Tuesday (Jan. 3) that sent a coronal mass ejection (CME), a giant cloud of magnetized plasma, barrelling off into space. At the time, the sunspot was hidden on the far side of the sun and so the eruption posed no danger to Earth.
Related: A giant plasma cloud bursts from the sun, but fortunately it won’t hit Earth
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Solar flares are caused when magnetic energy builds up in the solar atmosphere and is released in an intense burst of electromagnetic radiation. More powerful, M-class and X-class flares can cause minor to extensive radio blackouts on the side of Earth facing the sun at the time of the eruption.
This is exactly what happened when the recent X1.2 class solar flare sent a strong pulse of X-rays and extreme ultraviolet radiation toward Earth. Traveling at the speed of light, the radiation reached Earth in just over eight minutes and ionized the upper layer of Earth’s atmosphere — the thermosphere — triggering a shortwave radio blackout across the South Pacific.
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According to Spaceweather.com, so far, no CME has been observed emerging from the area after the massive flare.
Solar activity is on the rise as part of solar cycle 25, which scientists predict will peak in 2025. To find out if there is a solar flare today and to keep up with the latest space weather findings, visit the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Space Weather Prediction Center (opens in new tab) to see the most recent solar X-ray data from the agency’s GOES weather satellites that perch over the eastern and western U.S.
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Massive, hidden sunspot blasts out enormous X-class flare — and Earth could soon be in the firing line
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A massive explosion on the far side of the sun recently spat out an X-class flare — one of the most powerful solar flares the sun is capable of producing. The resulting solar storm will narrowly miss Earth, but the sunspot responsible for belching it out could soon be pointed directly at our planet.
The epic eruption was detected on Jan. 3 by the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO), an Earth-orbiting spacecraft co-operated by NASA and the European Space Agency. SOHO spotted a bright stream of plasma, known as a coronal mass ejection (CME), that emerged from the sun’s southeastern limb, according to Spaceweather.com (opens in new tab).
The CME was likely given off by a hidden far-side flare and registered as a C-class event, the third highest class of solar flares. (Solar flare classes include A, B, C, M and X, with each class being at least 10 times more powerful than the previous one.) But based on the size and strength of the visible CME, experts believe the hidden outburst that birthed it was probably large enough to be designated as an X-class flare.
The most powerful X-class flares can erupt from the sun with an equivalent force of around a billion hydrogen bombs, according to NASA. If one of these flares hit Earth head on it could trigger widespread radio and electricity blackouts on the side of the planet facing the sun and cause damage to satellites in orbit around Earth. The resulting auroras would be so strong they could even give nearby airplane passengers small doses of radiation, according to NASA (opens in new tab).
Scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) modeled the solar storm given off by the most recent X-class flare and found that it would narrowly miss Earth over the next few days, according to Spaceweather.com. However, that doesn’t mean we will stay in the clear for long.
Related: 10 solar storms that blew us away in 2022
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Astronomers believe the enormous flare was emitted from a sunspot — dark, planet-sized regions that form in the sun’s lower atmosphere as the result of magnetic disturbances — known as AR3163, which rotated onto the far side of the sun around two weeks ago after spitting out a flurry of mild CMEs on the sun’s near side. Based on the potential power of the hidden flare, experts think the sunspot has grown significantly in size since it disappeared from view, Spaceweather.com reported.
When the recent flare erupted, AR3163 was predicted to reemerge onto the near side of the sun within two days based on acoustic images, known as helioseismic echoes, which can detect abnormalities on the hidden surface of the sun. On Jan. 5, the closest edge of AR3163 began to appear on the solar horizon as expected, according to Spaceweather.com (opens in new tab). It will soon be pointed directly at Earth and has the capacity to spit out more X-class flares, but the chances of a direct hit are relatively low.
Earth is currently at perihelion, meaning that our planet is at its closest point to the sun. On Jan. 4, another CME given off by an M-class flare, which was capable of causing minor radio blackouts, bashed into Earth right as the planet moved into its closest possible proximity to the sun.
Solar activity will continue to ramp up as we approach the peak of the sun’s 11-year solar cycle, which will occur in 2025. During December 2022 there were 24 active sunspots on the sun, the highest number for more than seven years, according to Spaceweather.com (opens in new tab).
Serbs in Kosovo clash with police as ethnic tensions flare
MITROVICA, Kosovo Dec 11 (Reuters) – Serb protesters in northern Kosovo blocked main roads for a second day on Sunday following a nighttime exchange of fire with police after the arrest of a former Serb policeman, amid rising tensions between authorities and Kosovo’s Serb minority.
In recent weeks Serbs in northern Kosovo – which they believe to be part of Serbia – have responded with violent resistance to moves by Pristina that they see as anti-Serb.
EULEX, the European Union mission tasked with patrolling northern Kosovo, said a stun grenade was thrown on one of its armoured vehicles on Saturday evening, but no one was injured.
Josep Borrell, EU foreign policy chief, warned the bloc will not tolerate violence against members of its mission.
“#EU will not tolerate attacks on @EULEXKosovo or use of violent, criminal acts in the north. Barricades must be removed immediately by groups of Kosovo Serbs. Calm must be restored,” he wrote on Twitter.
The latest protests were triggered by the arrest of a former police officer on Saturday. He was part of a mass resignation of Serbs from the force last month, after Pristina said it would require Serbs to scrap Serbian license plates dating to before the 1998-99 Kosovo War that led to independence.
For a second day on Sunday, trucks and other heavy-duty vehicles blocked several main roads leading to two border crossings with Serbia. Both crossings were closed to traffic.
“The United States expresses its deep concern about the current situation in the north of Kosovo,” the United States embassies in Belgrade and Pristina said in a statement.
“We call on everyone to exercise maximum restraint, to take immediate action to achieve a de-escalation of the situation, and to refrain from provocative acts.”
Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti has asked NATO’s mission KFOR to remove the barricades.
“We call KFOR to guarantee the freedom of movement (and remove roadblocks)…KFOR is asking for more time to finish this … so we are waiting,” Kurti said.
Late on Saturday Kosovo police said they came under fire in different locations close to a lake bordering Serbia. The force said it had to return fire in self-defence. There were no reports of injuries.
EU PLAN IN DANGER
Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008 with the backing of the West, following the 1998-99 war in which NATO intervened to protect Albanian-majority Kosovo.
Serb mayors in northern Kosovo municipalities, along with local judges and some 600 police officers, resigned last month in protest over a government decision to replace Belgrade-issued car licence plates with ones issued by Pristina.
Police in Pristina said former policeman Dejan Pantic was arrested for allegedly attacking state offices, the election commission offices, and police officers and election officials.
Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vucic presided over a National Security Council meeting on Sunday. “I call on Serbs to be calm. Attacks against KFOR and EULEX must not happen,” Vucic told RTS national TV.
On Saturday, Vucic said Belgrade would ask KFOR to let Serbia deploy troops and police in Kosovo, but acknowledged there was no chance of permission being granted.
“We do not seek conflict, but dialogue and peace. But let me be clear: the Republic of Kosovo will defend itself – forcefully and decisively,” Kurti said in response to Vucic’s comments.
Kosovo and Serbia are holding talks in Brussels to try to normalise relations and the EU has already presented a plan.
Additional reporting by Aleksandar Vasovic, Florion Goga and Ognen Teofilovski; Editing by Susan Fenton and Ros Russell
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
SpaceX Crew-5 Launches to Space Station, Webb & Hubble Team Up, Intense Solar Flare
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the company’s Crew Dragon spacecraft is launched on NASA’s SpaceX Crew-5 mission to the International Space Station with NASA astronauts Nicole Mann and Josh Cassada, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Koichi Wakata, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Anna Kikina onboard, Wednesday, October 5, 2022, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA’s SpaceX Crew-5 mission is the fifth crew rotation mission of the SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket to the International Space Station as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program. Mann, Cassada, Wakata, and Kikini launched at 12:00 p.m. EDT from Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center to begin a six month mission onboard the orbital outpost. Credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky
Launching a new crew to the space station …
The plan moving forward for Artemis I …
And Webb’s new look at a pair of galaxies … a few of the stories to tell you about – This Week at 
Launching a new crew to the space station, the plan moving forward for Artemis I, and Webb’s new look at a pair of galaxies … a few of the stories to tell you about – This Week at NASA!
NASA’s
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-5 mission launched to the International Space Station (ISS) on October 5. Crew-5 will spend six months on the station conducting research and technology demonstrations that benefit people on Earth and lays the groundwork for future Artemis human exploration missions to the Moon and eventually to
NASA’s Space Launch System rocket will launch with Orion atop it from Launch Complex 39B at NASA’s modernized spaceport at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Credit: NASA
Artemis I Teams Focus on November for Launch Attempt
In the wake of Hurricane Ian, teams at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center are looking at the November 12 through November 27 timeframe for the next Artemis I launch attempt. Artemis I updates are available at blogs.nasa.gov/artemis.
By combining data from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope and NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, researchers were able to trace light that was emitted by the large white elliptical galaxy at left through the spiral galaxy at right and identify the effects of interstellar dust in the spiral galaxy. This image of galaxy pair VV 191 includes near-infrared light from Webb, and ultraviolet and visible light from Hubble. Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, Rogier Windhorst (ASU), William Keel (University of Alabama), Stuart Wyithe (University of Melbourne), JWST PEARLS Team, Alyssa Pagan (STScI)
Webb and Hubble Image Features Galaxy Pair
A new Webb Space Telescope image of a spiral galaxy and an elliptical galaxy, combined with a 
NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory captured this image of a solar flare – as seen in the bright flash on the top right – on October 2, 2022. The image shows a subset of extreme ultraviolet light that highlights the extremely hot material in flares and which is colorized in orange. Credit: NASA/SDO
Sun Releases Intense Solar Flare
On October 2, NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory captured the Sun emitting an X1-class solar flare. X-class flares can impact radio communications and electric power grids on Earth and pose risks to spacecraft and astronauts in space.
That’s what’s up this week @NASA