Powerful Solar Storm , Expected to Disrupt , Radio Signals .
'Newsweek' reports that a solar storm, caused by an X-class solar flare that took place on New Year's Eve, was expected to impact Earth on January 2.
.
Experts warned that the resulting solar storm could start disrupting radio signals and cause bright auroras on that date.
The super #solarstorm launched during a X4.98-flare New Year's Eve will clip Earth.
NOAA prediction shows impact early January 2 (UTC), Tamitha Skov, space weather physicist, via X .
The storm should hit hard, but last less than a day.
Expect bright, but short-lived #aurora plus #radio signal disruptions on Earth's nightside, Tamitha Skov, space weather physicist, via X .
The storm should hit hard, but last less than a day.
Expect bright, but short-lived #aurora plus #radio signal disruptions on Earth's nightside, Tamitha Skov, space weather physicist, via X .
A solar flare is an ejection of electromagnetic radiation, usually in the form of X-rays.
.
Typically, solar flares are emitted from sunspots on the surface of the sun and occur when magnetic fields in those sunspots become reorganized or entangled.
The weakest are the A-class flares, followed in intensity by the B-class, C-class, M-class—these are moderate—and the X-class, Gonzalo José Carracedo Carballal, astrophysics researcher at Madrid's Instituto Nacional de Técnica, via 'Newsweek'.
According to Jesse Woodroffe, a program scientist in the Heliophysics Division at NASA headquarters, solar flares are, "around a million times stronger than a nuclear bomb.".
However, 'Newsweek' reports that a nuclear explosion takes place in a highly localized position of time and space, while the energy emitted by solar flares spreads across a vast distance.
The X-class event on December 31 was the most powerful on record since the beginning of the current solar cycle, which started in December of 2019
