Sun Emits Fourth X-class Solar Flare In The Last Week
The sun emitted another significant solar flare, peaking at 5:54 p.m. on Oct. 29th, 2013 – the fourth X-class flare in the last week. Solar flares are powerful bursts of radiation and while the radiation from a flare cannot pass through Earth's atmosphere to physically affect humans on the ground, when intense enough they can disturb the atmosphere in the layer where GPS and communications signals travel. The disruption to radio signals occurs for as long as the flare is ongoing, anywhere from minutes to hours. This flare is classified as an X2.3 class flare. "X-class" denotes the most intense flares, while the number provides more information about its strength. An X2 is twice as intense as an X1, an X3 is three times as intense, etc. read more