NASA has captured on camera a dark plasma eruption on the Sun that has a 60 percent chance of causing power outages on Earth this week.
The “cold” solar flare of about 36,000 degrees Fahrenheit (F) is about a quarter the temperature of the Sun’s “hot” solar flares, which average 144,000 degrees Fahrenheit (F) and are much better understood by scientists.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) issued an alert Monday warning that this pulse of dark plasma could cause “electrical grid fluctuations.”
The eruption could disrupt radio, air communications and satellite operations when it makes impact at least Friday.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) issued an alert Monday warning that the pulse of dark plasma from this
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) issued an alert Monday warning that the pulse of dark plasma from this “cold solar flare” could cause “electrical grid fluctuations.” Above is a composite image of the sun taken by the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) on Monday, July 22
NASA’s video from its Solar Dynamics Observatory showed a dark cloud from the cool solar flare shooting out from the sun, creating what looks like black smoke as the cooler-than-average plasma moved northward across the sun’s surface.
So-called “cold” solar flares – which have only been the subject of serious study by astrophysicists in the last decade – do not appear to be less rich in microwave radiation than a “hot” solar flare.
According to a 2023 study, these low-temperature solar flares produce “higher peak frequencies of gyrosynchrotron emission,” the exact form of radiation responsible for the intense and disruptive radio emissions from a flare.
NOAA said there is a 60 percent chance of more mid-level or M-class solar flares in the next 24 hours, and a 15 percent chance of a more extreme X-class solar flare, which could trigger radio blackouts worldwide.
But this recent “cold” M-class solar flare erupted in the sunspot region named AR3757 on Sunday evening.
Specifically, the rocket was M1 class, which is at the lower end of the ten-point scale in that average M range.
Solar flares are divided into four letter categories based on their severity: X-class flares are the most intense, followed by M, C and the weakest, B.
Only X and M flares emit energy powerful enough to affect Earth, where their electromagnetic pulses can cause disruptions to communications and electrical circuits.
In the past 24 hours, at least six M-class solar flares have caused radio disruptions internationally, including an M1 flare that caused radio outages in parts of the Western Hemisphere, and three in Asia.
The largest of these was an M3.2-class flare that caused a radio blackout in the Pacific on Sunday night, according to the Space Weather Prediction Center at the University of Athens.
Experts warn that Earth will face increasingly violent solar storms over the next year.
NOAA also said there was a 60 percent chance of more mid-level or M-class solar flares in the next 24 hours — and a 15 percent chance of a more extreme X-class flare, which could trigger radio blackouts worldwide. Above, a July 22 AIA image of the sun
NOAA also said there was a 60 percent chance of more mid-level or M-class solar flares in the next 24 hours — and a 15 percent chance of a more extreme X-class flare, which could trigger radio blackouts worldwide. Above, a July 22 AIA image of the sun
Smithsonian astrophysicist Dr Jonathan McDowell told DailyMail.com in May that the Sun had not yet reached its “solar maximum”, the most energetic point in its recurring 11-year solar cycle, during which greater turbulence increases its energy output.
This “maximum” will finally arrive in the heat of next summer: in July 2025.
“We could easily have much bigger storms in the next couple of years,” said Dr. McDowell, who works with the Smithsonian and the Harvard Center for Astrophysics.
“It’s certainly a scary time for satellite operators,” he added.
“That’s when we see the most sunspots, and they start to get bigger,” agreed Dean Pesnell, project scientist at NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory.
But, “as AR3738 disappears from view, the sun might calm down a little bit,” for a few days to a week, Pesnell told DailyMail.com earlier in July.
At the 2019 “solar minimum,” the number of sunspots visible on the sun’s surface was effectively zero, but at the upcoming maximum in July 2025, the U.S. National Space Weather Prediction Center has estimated there could be as many as 115 sunspots.
These magnetically dense areas of turbulence on the solar surface produce solar flares and more powerful plasma eruptions called coronal mass ejections (CMEs).
Although the 11-year solar cycle increases the total radiation emitted by the Sun by only a misleading 0.1%, this excess is highly concentrated in sunspot activity.
Last May, those surges in the 173,000 terawatts (billions of watts) of solar energy that continually strike the Earth disrupted farmers’ Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites and stranded planting equipment across the American Midwest.
“I’ve never had to deal with anything like this,” Patrick O’Connor, who owns a farm about a 90-minute drive south of Minneapolis, told the New York Times.
Currently, the only predictive method space weather experts have for predicting when a major solar storm is likely to hit is to track sunspots.
“If you look at the sunspot as it orbits the sun, what we call an ‘active zone,'” Dr. McDowell said in May, “‘Oh, I see this sunspot, and it’s going to be facing the Earth in two days.’ So if it starts burping, then we could be in trouble.”
“So there is some level of forecasting possible,” he added. “We are working to improve it.”
WHAT IS THE SOLAR CYCLE?
The Sun is a huge ball of hot, electrically charged gas that moves around, generating a powerful magnetic field.
This magnetic field goes through a cycle, called the solar cycle.
About every 11 years, the Sun’s magnetic field completely reverses, meaning the Sun’s north and south poles swap positions.
The solar cycle affects activity on the Sun’s surface, such as sunspots caused by the Sun’s magnetic fields.
Every 11 years, the Sun's magnetic field reverses, meaning that the Sun's north and south poles switch places. The solar cycle affects activity on the Sun's surface, with more sunspots occurring during the strongest phases (2001) than during the weakest phases (1996/2006).
Every 11 years, the Sun’s magnetic field reverses, meaning that the Sun’s north and south poles switch places. The solar cycle affects activity on the Sun’s surface, with more sunspots occurring during the strongest phases (2001) than during the weakest phases (1996/2006).
One way to track the solar cycle is to count the number of sunspots.
The beginning of a solar cycle corresponds to a solar minimum, that is, the moment when the Sun has the fewest sunspots. Over time, solar activity and the number of sunspots increase.
The middle of the solar cycle corresponds to solar maximum, that is, when the Sun has the most sunspots.
At the end of the cycle, the sun returns to a minimum and a new cycle begins.
Giant eruptions on the Sun, such as solar flares and coronal mass ejections, also increase during the solar cycle.
These eruptions send powerful explosions of energy and matter into space that can have effects on Earth.
For example, flares can cause lights in the sky, called auroras, or impact radio communications and power grids on Earth.
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