The Sun has unleashed another powerful solar flare—an X1.1-class eruption—highlighting a period of heightened solar activity as the solar cycle nears its peak. The flare, which peaked at 12.52am (GMT) on Sunday, was captured in detail by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory.
The agency reported: “NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory captured this image of a solar flare on May 24. The image shows a subset of extreme ultraviolet light that highlights the extremely hot material in flares and which is colorised in teal. Solar flares are powerful bursts of energy. Flares and solar eruptions can impact radio communications, electric power grids, navigation signals, and pose risks to spacecraft and astronauts.”
X-class flares are the strongest in the solar flare classification system. The number following the ‘X’ provides a further measure of intensity, meaning an X1.1 flare, while significant, is far less severe than the more powerful X10 or X20-level events.
It follows a particularly volatile stretch of solar activity, including multiple strong flares earlier this month—among them an X1.2-class event on May 13.
That flare triggered temporary radio blackouts across parts of North America and Europe, prompting NOAA to issue a space weather alert.
Flares and solar eruptions can interfere with high-frequency radio signals and GPS navigation and even pose a risk to power grids and satellites in orbit.
NASA said: “Flares and solar eruptions can impact radio communications, electric power grids, navigation signals, and pose risks to spacecraft and astronauts.”
NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) continuously monitor space weather threats.
NASA said: “NASA observes the Sun and our space environment constantly with a fleet of spacecraft that study everything from the Sun’s activity to the solar atmosphere, and to the particles and magnetic fields in the space surrounding Earth.”
Such events are not without precedent. The 1859 Carrington Event—the most powerful solar storm on record—disrupted telegraph systems and produced auroras as far south as the Caribbean. A similar storm today could cause widespread technological disruption.