On Tuesday, September 9th, a medium-sized solar flare was fired off the sun in the Active Region 2158. This was then followed by an X-class flare, which is the most powerful type of flare, which erupted on September 11th. This second flare also erupted in Active Region 2158, however unlike the medium-sized flare, this one is Earth-directed.

                            An image of the X-class flare.              Source: NASA

Solar flares are huge bursts of radiation from the sun. The big ones, such as the X-class flares, usually come along with Coronal Mass Ejections, also known as CMEs. These are blasts of plasma that can cause geomagnetic storms which in turn can interfere with GPS and radio signals and even destroy electrical grids if they come in contact with Earth. They also create beautiful displays of the Aurora.

According to astronomer Bob Berman, the biggest fear right now "is a recurrence of the huge Coronal Mass Ejections of 1921 and 1859." If a CME of that size hit Earth today, it could cause damage to the United States' electrical grids that would cost 1 to 2 trillion dollars in damage and over a year to repair. Scientists and astronomers alike are closely and carefully observing the X-class flare in order to ensure that it will not become dangerous to Earth.

There are many questions that remain: Is Earth prepared to deal with the effects of a Coronal Mass Ejection? How will we stay safe if the CME results in a geomagnetic storm? Do we have the means to repair the damage that a storm could cause? For now, scientists say that this flare should not affect Earth, but what if it becomes dangerous to us? Only time will tell.

A live broadcast of the solar flare was shown on space.com this past Thursday. A replay of the webcast can be watched here.


Source: http://www.space.com/27111-solar-flare-webcast-slooh-observatory.html