© Provided by CNET X-Class 1.2 solar flare recorded January 5, 2022. NASA/SDOA powerful solar flare erupted Thursday evening from a complex sunspot on the Sun's surface that could literally reignite very quickly.
The charged particle explosion was recorded as an X1.2 class flare. X-flares are the strongest category of flares and can cause geomagnetic storms that affect the Earth's magnetic field with the potential to damage satellites, communications equipment and even the power grid.
© Provided by CNET . The eruption was the strongest since October. NASA/ODSHowever, a blast like X1 is at the low end of the X scale. As such, no immediate damage from the blast has been reported so far, apart from shortwave radio blackouts in parts of Australia and the South Pacific. This eclipse was the result of an energetic explosion from a solar flare moving toward our planet at the speed of light, reaching Earth in just eight minutes. However, it was short-lived.
However, scientists believe there is likely more to this sunspot's arsenal.
"Given the apparent size and complexity of this large active region, it is likely that eruptions will continue in the coming days," writes former NASA astronomer Tony Phillips on Spaceweather.com.
Powerful explosions are often accompanied by massive coronal ejections of hot plasma that can be hurled toward Earth, but at much slower speeds and with a journey of a day or more.
When strong CMEs impact directly on Earth, the result can be the appearance of bright auroras at higher latitudes, as well as damage to the above infrastructure. So far, there have been no reports of a CME accompanying Thursday's outbreak.
This is a welcome surprise as the massive and energetically complex sunspot that produced it spent the first part of this week shooting powerful flares and CMEs across the sun. Now this sunspot, registered as AR3182, is orbiting in our direct line of sight from Earth, meaning future CMEs could be heading our way in the coming days.
NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center is forecasting a 10% chance of X-bursts over the weekend.
