Sun blasts out biggest solar flare since 2017; Know all about solar flare & sun cycles

The radiations from the Sun help make life on Earth possible. If these radiations would have been a little farther or a little closer, the temperature of Earth would not have been possible for the existence of life and therefore the heat from the sun is optimum. However, it has been found recently that the sun just spat out its biggest flare since the year 2017.

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Sun radiates flares in cycles

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On May 29, the sun was filmed spitting out its biggest flare, which could mean that the sun has already entered its new solar cycle and will be ramping up to a higher level of activity in a few years. The Sun seems consistent from Earth but over the years, studies have been going on about it. It has been observed by astronomers that the sun goes through 11-year activity cycle where solar flares tend to ramp up and fall along with the sunspots on its surface.

Image Credits: chefjamesbardell Instagram

According to a leading media portal, NASA had stated that just because the sunspot numbers go up or down in a given month, it does not mean that it will not reverse course the next month. Then it will go back again the month after that to the previous month’s number. The sun is an unpredictable star of our solar system.

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What is a solar flare?

A solar flare is a massive burst of radiation that is usually observed near the surface of the sun and in close proximity to a sunspot group. Even the most powerful flares are barely noticeable in the total solar irradiance. Most of the radiation gets filtered out by the atmosphere of Earth.

However, that does not imply that it does not affect Earth in any manner. Most of the satellites orbiting the Earth are located outside the atmosphere of Earth. So when a solar flare occurs, it impacts the GPS and communication signals.

Radiation flares also pose a threat to astronauts in the International Space Station. It endangers their capability of leaving the ISS. Moreover, in the past, M-class solar flares have caused radio blackouts in polar regions where Earth’s atmosphere is at its thinnest.

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Image Credits: Youtube screengrab from NASA Goddard