Solar flare and Sun blast to hit Earth on this date, officials confirm

A large sunspot has quadrupled in size in the last 48 hours, officials have said the chances of a solar flare hitting Earth.

@JakConnorTT

Published Jan 31, 2022 12:32 AM CST
Updated Feb 25, 2022 1:35 AM CST

46 seconds read time

Officials have confirmed that the Sun has released a blast and a solar flare directly towards Earth, impact is expected to occur very soon.

Solar flare and Sun blast to hit Earth on this date, officials confirm 01

SpaceWeather.com has reported that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has confirmed that the big sunspot called AR2936 has quadrupled in size over the last two days. Additionally, AR2936 is now facing towards Earth, with NOAA forecasters predicting a 20% chance of an M-class flare hitting Earth and a 5% chance of the more-powerful X-flare.

Now, reports indicate that in the early hours of January 30, a long-duration M1-class solar flare occurred, causing a coronal mass ejection (CME) to be hurled toward Earth. SpaceWeather.com writes that the CME is expected to arrive sometime between February 1-2. Officials forecast that moderate to low-level geomagnetic storms will happen upon impact, which may cause some issues for satellites. More positively, the CME impact can also cause auroras.

For more information on this story, check out this link here.

NEWS SOURCES:earthsky.org, spaceweather.com

Jak Connor

Jak joined the TweakTown team in 2017 and has since reviewed 100s of new tech products and kept us informed daily on the latest science, space, and artificial intelligence news. Jak's love for science, space, and technology, and, more specifically, PC gaming, began at 10 years old. It was the day his dad showed him how to play Age of Empires on an old Compaq PC. Ever since that day, Jak fell in love with games and the progression of the technology industry in all its forms. Instead of typical FPS, Jak holds a very special spot in his heart for RTS games.