MOSCOW, February 23 The largest explosion in this solar cycle was recorded on the Sun by space monitors tonight between 01.00 and 02.00 Moscow time, reported the solar astronomy laboratory of the Institute of Space Research of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
The solar cycle lasts approximately 12 years, during which solar activity may weaken or intensify. Previously, the laboratory reported that the maximum of the current cycle will occur in 2024-2025.
«»Radiation fluxes recorded from the Sun amounted to about one kilowatt per square kilometer, which is only two to three times lower than record levels recorded in modern history. The solar flare is classified as X6.3 and is thus the largest since 2017. when the last powerful events of the previous cycle of activity occurred,” the message says.
The laboratory explained that the Sun is now experiencing one of the strongest bursts of activity in the last two solar cycles. The new explosion was the third, the highest magnitude X, in less than 24 hours.
«The latest explosion, according to observational data, was registered dangerously close to the Sun-Earth line, which makes it very significant «the probability of an impact on the Earth. An accurate forecast will appear by approximately 12 o'clock Moscow time, when data from space coronagraphs is received and processed and it becomes clear where the main force of the solar explosion was directed,» the laboratory added.
It is noted that if the movement of plasma clouds towards the Earth is confirmed, their arrival in the planet’s orbit and, accordingly, an impact on the magnetic field may occur as early as Sunday, February 25. The possible strength of magnetic storms in this case can reach level G4 (out of five possible).