The sun silenced critics of its recent inactivity with an explosive X-class flare, the most powerful type of solar flare, causing shortwave radio blackouts across Australia, Southeast Asia, and Japan. The flare, originating from sunspot AR3738, occurred late Saturday night at 10:34 p.m. EDT (0234 UT on July 14), as captured by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory.
Despite the flare’s intensity, it did not produce a coronal mass ejection (CME), disappointing aurora chasers. Solar physicist Keith Strong noted on social media that no geomagnetic activity is expected due to the high solar activity. The flare did, however, cause radio blackouts shortly after the eruption, a common occurrence following powerful solar flares due to the intense bursts of X-rays and extreme ultraviolet radiation emitted.
These radiations ionize the upper atmosphere, creating a denser environment for high-frequency shortwave radio signals, leading to degraded or completely absorbed radio signals. Solar flares are eruptions from the sun’s surface that release powerful bursts of electromagnetic radiation, categorized by size into classes with X-class flares being the strongest. The recent solar flare on July 14 was recorded as an X-1.27, according to Space Weather Live.
