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Solar researchers say a massive sunspot called “AR3055” could soon be the source of a solar flare strong enough to cause blackouts on Earth.
The sunspot measures more than 6,100 miles wide and looks like a dark mole on the surface of the Sun.
The color is due to concentrations of relatively cooler temperatures caused by a magnetic flux.
Astronomers say it’s almost directly facing the Earth and poses a threat to our way of life.
Astronomer Apollo Lasky said, “There is an incredible-looking sunspot crossing the center of the solar disk and a new large dark core has just appeared on the limb.”
A detrimental “M-class” solar flare from the sunspot would cause a burst of high-energy radiation that can last for hours.
This has the power to prompt radio blackouts in space and on Earth.
More on this story via NY Post:
Researchers aren’t sure whether AR3055 grew to its current size from an existing, smaller spot, or rapidly developed on its own over the weekend, according to SpaceWeather.com, which also shared moving images of the spot, which boasts more than a dozen, swirling cores of magnetic energy…
Flares expel plasma from the Sun’s outer layer, or the corona. When the shockwave, called a coronal mass ejection, ultimately hits our atmosphere — which takes about eight minutes — they create geomagnetic storms with varying effects on satellites, GPS and power grids in the areas it hits, as well as natural processes, including the migration of animals, who rely on the magnetic field to navigate.
Flares are classified by strength, with types C and B falling below M, and X as the strongest of all, which could trigger planet-wide outages and storms of radiation.
The last M-class flare to threaten Earth was seen stemming from sunspot AR3038 last month as scientists warned of potential radio silence lasting about 10-minutes stemming from sunspot AR3038.