Massive solar storm causes worldwide blackouts as experts warn the worst is yet to come

[noumoe]

The sun has unleashed the strongest solar flare of the year, triggering strong radio blackouts across the globe.

Just after 11:30am ET Tuesday morning, an X-class solar flare — the biggest kind — shot out of a newly emerging sunspot called AR4087. Sunspots are cool, dark regions on the sun's surface where the magnetic field is much stronger than anywhere else.

These areas of intense magnetic activity can emit bursts of plasma called solar flares. If a flare is large enough and directed toward Earth, it can send radiation hurtling toward our planet.

When those charged particles reach the outer layer of Earth's atmosphere, they create long lasting radiation storms that may trigger radio blackouts, knock out power grids and damage satellites.

The radiation storm caused by Tuesday's solar flare led to strong radio blackouts across Europe, Asia and the Middle East.

X-class solar flares are rare. These fiery eruptions are ranked in strength by five classes: A, B, C, M and X, with A being the weakest and X being the strongest.

Each flare is also assigned a number on a scale of one to nine to further define its strength, with one being the weakest and nine being the strongest.

Tuesday's flare was an X2.7, which means it was at the lower end of the most powerful class of solar flares.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech ... 0&ito=1490