It’s been a busy yr on the solar, because it formally entered the height of its roughly 11-year cycle of exercise, referred to as photo voltaic most. In 2024, the solar launched over 50 X-class photo voltaic flares — essentially the most highly effective kind of photo voltaic flare — at Earth.
Solar flares are categorized by the extent of X-rays they produce in a selected wavelength vary (1 to eight angstroms). Solar flare courses comply with a logarithmic scale, with every flare class — C, M and X — 10 occasions stronger than the earlier one. Solar flares can even unleash large clouds of plasma referred to as coronal mass ejections (CMEs), which may trigger geomagnetic storms and widespread auroras.
The video above reveals observations from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA). The left panels present emissions from AIA 131 Å, and the fitting from AIA 171 Å. These reveal plasma at roughly 18 million and 1.8 million levels Fahrenheit (10 million and 1 million levels Celsius), respectively. Below, we check out the ten strongest photo voltaic flares between Jan. 1 and Dec. 10, 2024.
10. X3.38 — Feb. 9
This X3.38 flare, which occurred over the southwestern fringe of the solar, would have measured a lot greater if a lot of the emission had not been blocked by the sting of the solar. This flare reveals a great instance of a “coronal wave,” as coronal materials in AIA 171 Å emission is seen to be nearly “blown out of the best way” by the unique flare.
During this large flare on Feb. 9, as with nearly all X-class flares, the intense and concentrated sign produced an “X” or “star” form diffraction sample, which emanated from the intense flare website in AIA 131 Å emission. This diffraction sample is an artifact of the telescope digital camera; it didn’t truly happen on the solar.
9. X3.48 — May 15
This is the primary of 4 photo voltaic flares on this listing to have originated from photo voltaic lively area AR 13664.
AR 13664 was a well-known extremely productive lively area, producing 12 X-class photo voltaic flares in simply six days. The May 15 flare was the ultimate X-class flare seen from Earth, and it could have measured greater if it had not already been partly obscured by the western fringe of the solar.
As the lively area rotated across the again of the solar and reemerged into view two weeks later, it continued to supply giant flares (below a brand new lively area quantity). Observations from the European Space Agency’s Solar Orbiter additionally revealed giant flares from the area throughout the interval it was hidden from Earth’s view.
8. X3.98 — May 10
This photo voltaic flare additionally originated from lively area AR 13664. The flare produced a robust Earth-directed CME — considered one of a number of to launch inside a 48-hour window. The CME erupted from the right location on the solar to trigger most influence on Earth.
As the sequence of CMEs arrived at our planet on May 11-12, they produced a G5 geomagnetic storm — the strongest geomagnetic storm since 2003. This resulted in widespread auroras at low latitudes that had been considered by thousands and thousands internationally.
7. X4.52 – May 6
Another flare earlier in May was launched from lively area AR 13663 — one lively area decrease than the supply of the 2 flares above. While AR 13664 was busy producing eruptive flares within the solar’s southern hemisphere, AR 13663 unleashed a sequence of X-class photo voltaic flares from the northern hemisphere. Most of those flares, together with this May 6 occasion, didn’t produce notable Earth-directed coronal mass ejections.
6. X4.54 — Sept. 14
This photo voltaic flare produced a robust CME, directed over the solar’s jap limb. For flares round this magnitude and above, you possibly can discover the pixel saturation overflowing into neighboring pixels and producing periodic sharp and jagged saturation options that bleed out above and beneath the intense flare website.
5. X5.89 — May 11
Just just like the flare on May 6, this occasion originated in AR 13664. This flare additionally produced a coronal mass ejection, which fashioned a part of the chain of CMEs that contributed to the acute and long-duration G5 geomagnetic storm geared toward Earth.
Because the May 11 flare occurred nearer to the limb than the sooner flare from the identical lively area, it was barely much less optimally positioned to influence us head-on.
4. X6.37 – Feb. 22
Not all sturdy photo voltaic flares are fascinating. Although this one clocked in at X6.37, it didn’t produce any Earth-directed CMEs and was not notably noteworthy.
3. X7.10 — Oct. 1
This flare is considered one of two on this listing to originate from lively area AR 13842, alongside the strongest flare on the listing.
Neither of the 2 strongest flares from this lively area directed sturdy geomagnetic storms at Earth. However, smaller X-class flares from this similar lively area later went on to launch the CMEs answerable for a robust G4 geomagnetic storm on Oct. 10, which once more induced widespread low-latitude auroras internationally.
This is an efficient lesson to recollect: Solar flare dimension is just weakly correlated with the potential for a flare-induced CME to create sturdy auroras. In the case of this lively area, the bigger flares had a smaller geomagnetic influence than the smaller flares did.
2. X8.79 — May 14
This is the fourth and closing flare on this listing from lively area AR 13664, which has been by far essentially the most X-class-productive lively area throughout this photo voltaic cycle (up to now). However, not like the earlier flares to erupt from this area, the May 14 flare was confined, with no important eruption. Because of this, the bodily dimension of the flare seems small, regardless of the sturdy X-ray emission.
1. X9.0 — Oct. 3
Finally, the largest flare of the yr up to now produced an unlimited quantity of power — 9 occasions the quantity wanted to cross the X-class-flare threshold. This was the third-largest photo voltaic flare since 2011 and the fifth-largest since 2005.
Will this be the strongest photo voltaic flare we see in Solar Cycle 25? As photo voltaic most continues into 2025, we’ll have to attend and see.
