A strange event. On Thursday, December 14, a solar flare occurred, the most powerful recorded since 2017, which altered radio waves in South America and the United States. It was captured on video by NASA.
In the images we see a brief and sudden explosion of light that appears on the surface of the Sun, like a flash. It was captured under strong ultraviolet light, giving this blue tint to the image.
“This is likely one of the largest solar radio events ever recorded,” the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said in a statement.
Radio outage in South America
Specifically, localized explosions occurred in this star and a sunspot, that is, a part of the surface of the Sun, called AR 3514, detached from the star.
Classified in category X.28, the most powerful on NASA’s scale, this event is the largest of its kind recorded since September 2017.
The explosion then generated a large amount of radiation that reached planet Earth. In South America, residents even faced a massive radio outage that lasted several hours, while in the United States, several states suffered intermittent radio wave outages.
A magnetic cloud towards Earth?
But we may not be done with this solar explosion. In fact, in addition to altering Earth’s radio waves, it generated the expulsion of a kind of plasma cloud and a magnetic field from the outer layer into the star’s atmosphere.
This mass could, according to scientists, move towards the blue planet in the coming days. If so, starting Sunday the Earth could be faced with a geomagnetic storm that could significantly damage satellites and cause very long power outages, potentially lasting several months. Researchers estimate that disruptions on the railway are also possible due to the interruption of power supply to traffic lights.
However, in the case of the possible storm ahead, scientists do not want to be alarmist. They estimate that the effects should be minor and short-lived. On a more positive note, it could even increase the number of northern lights.
Source: BFM TV
