Solar Flare Today: How do Solar Flares affect Earth, is it dangerous? All you need to know

United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on Monday issued a warning against an ermous geomagnetic storm caused by a strong solar flare. According to department, solar flare could cause massive disruption to power grids and affect craft and satellites. phemen is also expected to cause rrn lights to be visible in New York.

massive solar storm set to hit earth today could potentially cause major disruption. A G2, or moderate warning was issued based on geomagnetic storm watch readings. According to experts, possible effects of sudden flash due to increased brightness from Sun 93 million miles away could be felt from Earth. But is it dangerous? Let’s find out.

What are Solar flares?

According to NASA, solar flares are intense bursts of radiation that come after magnetic field lines near sunspots tangle, cross, and reorganize. Solar flares are sometimes accompanied by a coronal mass ejection (CME for short). CMEs are huge bubbles of radiation and particles from Sun. y explode into at very high speed when Sun’s magnetic field lines suddenly reorganize. Big flares can cause major disruptions on Earth as mentioned earlier.

Are solar flares dangerous?

Although, solar flares are high radiations, this phemen is t dangerous to humans on surface of earth. geomagnetic storm could have a techlogical impact on man-made power grids and satellites, but t cause any effect to humans. Earlier in 1989, a strong solar eruption caused Canadian Province of Quebec to lose power for nine hours, showcasing how big an effect it could have.

Solar flares classification

Solar flares are classified as A, B, C, M or X based on ir X-ray brightness. A is smaller while X is largest and brightest. recently observed solar flare was first X flare spotted on sun's surface since a new solar cycle began in December 2019.  sun undergoes an 11-year activity where it swells to a peak at middle of cycle and n begins to quiet down until end of cycle when it all repeats. 

Solar flare today

Although a fixed time can’t be confirmed, Met Office Wear Operations Centre (MOSWOC) have predicted that geomagnetic storm is expected to last till evening today. “A CME launched on 9th October is expected to arrive at Earth during 11th (most likely during afteron or evening), lasting into 12th. G1-G2 storming is likely, with a chance of isolated G3 intervals,” MOSWOC tweeted.

Im: NASA