Giant Solar Flares Incoming: Sun Enters New Solar Cycle, NASA Shows Off Stunning Image

Our central star - the giant Sun has been quite active lately. Over the course of this month, the Sun "has been erupting non-stop" and "giant flares are incoming," scientists say.

Andrew McCarthy: Cosmic_background

The Sun is hungry

Just this Tuesday, the Sun belched out two super strong explosions, adding on to the increased solar activity witnessed this month.

On February 15, NASA recorded a giant coronal mass ejection (CME) but luckily for us, it was facing the other side of Sun. If it were to hit Earth, it would have produced a strong geomagnetic storm. "We may have dodged a bullet," astronomer Dr. Tony Philips wrote on his website spaceweather.com.

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NASA

An M-class flare (second-strongest category of solar flares) killed 40 SpaceX satellites on January 29, shedding light on how powerful these flares can be.

These CMEs are essentially huge explosions that erupt from the Sun's outer layer due to extremely hot material called plasma. While harmful radiation from a solar flare cannot pass through Earth's atmosphere and affect humans, it can disrupt GPS connectivity and communication signals.

Currently, the Sun is at the beginning of a new 11-year solar cycle. It's normal for flares and eruptions to become intense during this time.

NASA captures solar flare

In other Sun-related news, NASA's Solar Orbiter recently captured a giant solar eruption this week. The image of this solar prominence was captured by NASA on February 15, an ESA release claimed. (See image below)

NASA/ESA

A solar prominence is made up of clouds of solar gas that is situated above the surface of the Sun's magnetic field. These are responsible for causing the CMEs we discussed above.

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The giant eruption was 3.5 million kilometres long! According to ESA, this is "the largest ever event of its kind to be captured in a single field of view together with the solar disc."

Did you know the Sun is entering a period of increased activity? Let us know in the comments below. For more in the world of technology and science, keep reading Indiatimes.com.

References

Pettit, H. (2022, February 18). Sun ¡®has been erupting non-stop this month¡¯ ¨C and ¡®GIANT flares are incoming¡¯, scientists say. . . The US Sun.

Dvorsky, G. (2022, February 18). Unprecedented Image Captures Freakishly Large Solar Eruption. Gizmodo.