A powerful flare unexpectedly occurred on the Sun

A powerful flare was detected on the Sun around midnight, despite the overall trend toward declining solar activity. This was reported by the Telegram channel of the Solar Astronomy Laboratory at the Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IKI RAN) and the Institute of Solar-Terrestrial Physics of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (ISZF SO RAN).

"At night, around midnight, an M-class flare unexpectedly occurred in the main active region on the Sun, No. 4566," the astrophysicists specified, adding that such a flare is formally classified as strong, but in fact the disturbance region was at the lower boundary of its group – rated at M1.7.

Following this event, a series of lower-category C-class flares occurred, the laboratory added.

The scientists explained that despite the brief burst of activity, the overall trend on the Sun remains unchanged. According to the astrophysicists, the energy reserves for new powerful flares on the star have been largely exhausted, and the process of sunspot decay continues in the Sun's active regions.

Solar flares are divided into five classes: A, B, C, M, and X – depending on the intensity of X-ray emission. Class A0.0 corresponds to a radiation intensity at Earth's orbit of 10 nanowatts per square meter. With each transition to the next letter, the intensity increases tenfold. Flares can be accompanied by solar plasma ejections, the clouds of which, upon reaching Earth, can trigger magnetic storms.