The Northern Lights might not be finished with us yet, as the sun unleashed its most powerful flare in nearly a decade. This comes just days after intense solar storms led to extraordinary Northern Lights displays visible even from London. “Not done yet!” was the message from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) following the event.
This flare is the most significant of the current 11-year solar cycle, which is nearing its maximum activity phase, NOAA experts say. Fortunately, Earth is expected to dodge any direct impacts this time around, as the flare occurred on a section of the sun that’s rotating away from our planet.
Captured by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, the X-ray flare blazed up with an intensity not seen since 2005, earning an X8.7 classification. Bryan Brasher from NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Centre in Boulder, Colorado, hinted that further analysis might reveal the flare to be even more potent.
READ MORE: Northern Lights: What Aurora Borealis actually means
This latest solar outburst follows a series of flares and mass ejections of coronal plasma over the past week, which threatened to disrupt power grids and communication systems on Earth and in space. One of NASA’s environmental satellites was sent into a precautionary ‘safe mode’ due to the geomagnetic storm affecting its altitude, while astronauts aboard the International Space Station were directed to areas with substantial radiation protection, reports Wales Online.
Despite these precautions, NASA assured that the crew was never in any real danger.
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