The sun decided to end 2023 with a bang. As we on Earth were celebrating the arrival of 2024, the sun was having its own celebration. A gigantic solar flare erupted from the Sun’s Corona, the outermost layer of its atmosphere, measured to be an X5.0 flare and created a Coronal Mass Ejection, or CME, a massive bubble that was shot into space that hit Earth on January 2, 2024.
Solar flares are explosions of radiation from the Sun’s corona, where the pent up energy between the twisting magnetic fields is suddenly released. The X5.0 flare peaked at 4:55 p.m. EST December 31, ironically a little while after the December 14 X2.8 flare was declared as 2023’s strongest by NASA. This particular flare originated from Sunspot AR3536, an area of especially strong magnetic pressure in the Sun’s photosphere and the very same one responsible for the 20217 September 10 X8.2 flare, which was the strongest flare in the past six years.
This solar flare shot a humongous cloud of magnetized energy into space. The frequency of solar flares is only set to increase. The Sun’s powerful magnetic fields go through an 11-year cycle where the sun flips its poles, North replacing South and vice versa. It takes 11 years for them to flip again. Currently, the Sun is in Solar Cycle 25, which began in December 2019, and will reach its peak -the solar maximum- in January and October of 2024, where the number of sunspots will be the greatest. The continuation of the Solar cycle is turning the giant Sunspot AR3536 towards Earth.
Solar flares have a slew of complimentary phenomena. The most spectacular of these is the breathtaking aurora borealis (the northern lights) that adorn the sky between the 60 and 75 latitudes. The dazzling lights are a product of geomagnetic storms (which solar flares create) and with those set to increase, so will the auroras, predicted to possibly cover a broader range. Other solar flare baggage includes those geomagnetic storms. As National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) notes, “X-class flares can cause more noticeable impacts, like radiation storms that can impact satellites and give small radiation doses to airplane passengers flying near the poles and even cause global transmission problems and world-wide blackouts.” To give some context for the severity of the flares, they are categorized in classes, B class being the weakest and X class being the strongest, with C and M in between and energy increasing ten-fold going up the classes.
Though these phenomena might seem a little terrifying, one must agree that they look gorgeous, the vibrant hues against the inkiness of the sky. And for those worried about solar flares being the reason the Earth goes up in flames because NASA reassures us that “a gigantic ‘killer solar flare’ [that] could hurl enough energy to destroy Earth, is not actually possible.” Additionally, while the flares can bring down satellites and power grids, there is very little evidence of them being harmful for humans, the greatest concern thus far being overexposure to weak radiation at high altitudes and the scrambling of our circadian rhythms for a short while. But to the delight of aurora borealis enthusiasts around the world, 2024 is predicted to be an year abundant in dazzling displays of lights in the northern skies. Expectant eyes are all looking up.
