X-class flares are the most powerful type of solar flare, and can lead to planet-wide radio blackouts and radiation storms if they hit the Earth.

Sunspot AR3182, a large sunspot which is currently facing the Earth, has recently seen its magnetic field change and become a “beta-gamma-delta” field. This unstable field poses a larger risk of solar flares and coronal mass ejections, according to spaceweather.com.

Sunspots are areas of the sun’s surface where the magnetic field holds a higher level of energy as a result of their magnetic field lines being twisted. “Beta-gamma-delta” fields are caused by groups of sunspots with a beta-gamma magnetic configuration that also contains one (or more) delta sunspots.

According to spaceweatherlive.com, having a beta-gamma magnetic configuration means that the sunspot group is bipolar, with differing magnetic polarities, “but complex enough so that no line can be drawn between spots of opposite polarity,” and delta sunspots have reversed magnetic polarity.

When the twisted field lines of sunspots, especially these uniquely energetic sunspots, suddenly release their stored energy, this can result in solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs).

Solar flares are ejections of electromagnetic radiation—mostly X-rays— from the sun, while CMEs are plumes of millions of tonnes of solar plasma ejected from the sun’s surface.

Sunspot AR3182’s strange magnetic field therefore contributes to NASA increasing the likelihood of an X-class flare occurring to 30 percent.

“Solar flares are classified according to how bright they are in the soft X-ray part of the spectrum,” Gonzalo José Carracedo Carballal, an astrophysics researcher at the Instituto Nacional de Técnica Aeroespacial in Madrid, Spain, previously told Newsweek.

The weakest are the A-class flares, followed in intensity by the B-class, C-class, M-class, and the X class, Carracedo explained.

M-class flares are medium intensity and may cause minor impacts on Earth, while X-class flares are the most powerful, but most rare. X-class flares are 10 times more powerful than M-class, and an X10 flare is 10 times more powerful than an X1 flare.

X-class flares usually only happen around 10 times per year. If directed towards the Earth, these flares may cause damage to satellites, problems with global transmission, and worldwide radio blackouts. The last X-class flare occurred last week, on January 5, 2023.

This is because the flares interfere with the Earth’s ionosphere, preventing radio signals from passing through without distortion.

“Shortwave radio blackouts and Earth-directed CMEs are likely this week,” spaceweather.com said.

During the 1859 Carrington Event, the most powerful X-class flare in recorded history is thought to have hit the Earth, resulting in bright aurorae being seen around the world. It is also thought to have led to sparking and even fires in some telegraph stations.

It is thought that if a storm of this magnitude occurred today and hit the Earth, it would result in extended outages of the electrical power grid and major disruptions to communications.

“But an event similar to the Carrington event happening today could result in between $0.6 and $2.6 trillion in damages to the U.S. alone, according to NASA spaceflight,” Rami Qahwaji, a visual computing professor at the University of Bradford, previously told Newsweek.

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