MOSCOW, August 5 Two powerful X-class flares occurred on the Sun after a series of medium-sized explosions, said Sergei Bogachev, head of the solar astronomy laboratory at the Space Research Institute (IKI) of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
«A continuous barrage of M-class flares (level four on a five-point scale) led to the start of explosions of the highest, fifth level. <…> Two such events in a row occurred on the Sun today. First, a flare of level X1.7 with a maximum at 16:40 Moscow time and just now a second event with a peak between 18:30 and 18:50. The preliminary rating of the second flare is X1.2,» he said.
According to the scientist, optical means recorded the first explosion on the western (right) edge of the solar disk, that is, in the active centers moving away from the Earth to the far side of the star. The second occurred on the eastern (left) edge, where the active centers are located, which, on the contrary, are moving towards the Earth.
Bogachev assessed the possible impact of these flares on our planet's magnetosphere as unlikely, since no plasma emissions into space were detected after them, and the areas where the explosions occurred were too far from the direction of Earth.
«At the same time, the eastern regions (the location of the second flare) are now moving toward the Sun-Earth line and will reach a position on Wednesday from where the Earth can be hit first by plasma clouds, and from about Friday-Saturday also by fast particles,» the specialist specified.
He suggested that the Sun is gradually entering a continuous activity mode, but looking at the location of the spots, it is difficult to predict when it will subside and whether this will happen in the coming months.
The head of the laboratory also did not rule out that lower X-level events will soon become a familiar weekly background. In such a situation, it remains to be seen whether explosions occurred in the zone of influence on the Earth or not, the scientist concluded. 