The most powerful solar flare of the current cycle is recorded

Oct. 3 () –

Sunspot AR3842 exploded again this October 3, producing the strongest solar flare so far of Solar Cycle 25, which began in 2019 and lasts eleven years.

NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory recorded the explosion of category X 9.1which even exceeds the enormous X 8.7 flare of May 14 of this year, in a context of increasing solar activity whose peak will occur in 2025, reports the space agency.

Radiation from the flare ionized the upper part of Earth’s atmosphere and caused a Deep shortwave blackout over Africa and South Atlantic. Radio amateurs in the area may have noticed signal loss on frequencies below 30 MHz for half an hour after 12:18 UTC, Spaceweather.com reports.

Of greatest interest is coronal mass ejection. Preliminary SOHO coronagraph images show a halo CME (Coronal Mass Ejection) emerging from the explosion site. This CME will likely impact Earth on October 6adding its effect to that of a coronal mass ejection with intensity X7.1 registered on October 1 which is expected to arrive on October 4, according to the same source.