Live Science By Harry Baker 01/05/23
Massive, hidden sunspot blasts out enormous X-class flare — and Earth could soon be in the firing line
Astronomers recently detected a massive explosion on the far side of the sun, which likely spat out one of the most powerful flares the sun can produce.
A massive explosion on the far side of the sun recently spat out an X-class flare — one of the most powerful solar flares the sun is capable of producing. The resulting solar storm will narrowly miss Earth, but the sunspot responsible for belching it out could soon be pointed directly at our planet.
The epic eruption was detected on Jan. 3 by the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO), an Earth-orbiting spacecraft co-operated by NASA and the European Space Agency. SOHO spotted a bright stream of plasma, known as a coronal mass ejection (CME), that emerged from the sun's southeastern limb, according to Spaceweather.com (opens in new tab).
The CME was likely given off by a hidden far-side flare and registered as a C-class event, the third highest class of solar flares. (Solar flare classes include A, B, C, M and X, with each class being at least 10 times more powerful than the previous one.) But based on the size and strength of the visible CME, experts believe the hidden outburst that birthed it was probably large enough to be designated as an X-class flare.
More:
https://www.livescience.com/farside-sun-explosion-x-class-flare
