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Webmasters Note: Please notice...
this is the same article that NASA posted yesterday. However
in this one the solar flare has been upgraded from yesterday
from an X17 to and X20. There have been other reports stating
that it was an X22. Without a doubt, it is the largest ever
recorded.
The
most powerful solar flare ever recorded -- an X20-class
event -- erupted near sunspot 9393 at 2150 UT on April 2nd.
The event was even stronger than a well-known flare in March
1989 that led to the collapse of a power grid in Quebec.
There were no such calamities this time, however, because
sunspot 9393 -the source of the explosion- is near the Sun's
west limb; the bulk of the explosion was directed away from
Earth.
A cannibal
coronal mass ejection that left the Sun on April 2nd could
deliver a glancing blow to Earth's magnetosphere during
the next 24 hours. NOAA forecasters estimate a 25% of severe
geomagnetic storming at middle latitudes.
The
flux of 10 MeV solar protons surrounding our planet has
soared to approximately 10,000 times normal. Such radiation
levels pose no appreciable hazard to air travelers, astronauts
or satellites. The ongoing radiation storm is a NOAA S2-
to S3-category event.
Powerful
Solar Flares Since 1976 -- today's flare ranks second
in this 25-year list compiled by IPS Radio & Space Services.
See
more images of Monday's record-setting flare -- from
the ESA-NASA Solar and Heliospheric Observatory.
Right:
Monday's explosion hurled a coronal mass ejection into space.
The expanding cloud raced away from the Sun's western limb
-- and mostly away from Earth. The many speckles peppering
this SOHO coronagraph image are energetic solar particles
striking the instrument's CCD camera.
SUNSPOT
9393: In just a few days AR9393 --the largest sunspot since
1991-- will disappear over the Sun's western limb. The behemoth
spot is slowly shrinking, but it is still a whopper covering
an area of the solar disk equivalent to ten planet Earths.
There's still time to see this huge spot for yourself, but
be careful: Looking directly at the Sun can cause permanent
eye damage.
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