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SPACE — The sun just bombarded Earth with the strongest geomagnetic storm our planet has seen in more than six years. This massive storm occurred after an extremely rare double X-class flare eruption, disrupting the Earth’s magnetic field, lighting up skies around the world with vibrant auroras and other light phenomena.
The explosion is another sign that the sun has reached the peak activity of its 11-year cycle, solar maximum. This means that Earth may be the target of potentially dangerous solar storms in the coming months.
On Saturday, March 23, 2024, the sun emitted a class X flare of magnitude 1.1, the most powerful type of explosion the sun can produce. According to Spaceweather.comthe explosion was unusual in that it consisted of two simultaneous explosions from a pair of sunspots, AR3614 and AR3615, hundreds of thousands of kilometers apart.
The double explosion launched a large cloud of plasma and radiation into space, known as a coronal mass ejection (CME). They hurtled into Earth’s magnetosphere on Sunday, March 24, 2024. The impact sent a shock wave through the planet’s invisible protective shield, temporarily weakening it.
Read Also: Earth on Alert, the Sun has Exploded 3 Class X Flares Ahead of Solar Maximum 2024
This allows solar radiation to penetrate deeper into the Earth’s atmosphere than usual. The burst triggered auroras in Australia and New Zealand, as well as the aurora-like phenomenon STEVE (aka strong thermal emission velocity increase) in Alaska
According to the Space Weather Prediction Center, run jointly by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the National Weather Service, at their peak, geomagnetic storms will reach severe (G4) status. Geomagnetic storms range from minor (G1) to extreme (G5) intensity. The last time Earth experienced such strong geomagnetic disturbances was in September 2017.
The unusual nature of these solar outbursts and the intensity of the resulting geomagnetic storms are clear indicators that the sun is approaching solar maximum. Scientists have predicted that the peak of the solar cycle will occur no later than September this year. Source: Live Science
