New! Sign up for our free email newsletter.
Science News
from research organizations

It's Official: The Biggest Solar X-ray Flare Ever Is Classified As X28

Date:
November 7, 2003
Source:
European Space Agency
Summary:
It has just been announced that the massive solar X-ray flare which occurred on 4 November was, at best estimate, an X28. There is still a small chance this will be revised by a small amount, but it is now official: We have a new number 1 X-ray flare for the record books, the most powerful in recorded observational history.
Share:
FULL STORY

It has just been announced that the massive solar X-ray flare which occurred on 4 November was, at best estimate, an X28. There is still a small chance this will be revised by a small amount, but it is now official: We have a new number 1 X-ray flare for the record books, the most powerful in recorded observational history. On Tuesday, 4 November 2003, this flare saturated the X-ray detectors on several monitoring satellites. The associated coronal mass ejection (CME) came out of the Sun's surface at about 2300 kilometres per second (8.2 million km/h). Only part of the CME is directed towards Earth, so we expect the Earth will receive only a glancing blow, since the source region is pointing away from us on the right on the limb of the Sun as seen from Earth. How we classify solar flares Scientists classify solar flares according to their brightness in the x-ray wavelengths. There are three categories: X-class flares are big; they are major events that can trigger radio blackouts around the whole world and long-lasting radiation storms in the upper atmosphere.

M-class flares are medium-sized; they generally cause brief radio blackouts that affect Earth's polar regions. Minor radiation storms sometimes follow an M-class flare.

Compared to X- and M-class events, C-class flares are small with few noticeable consequences here on Earth.


Story Source:

Materials provided by European Space Agency. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


Cite This Page:

European Space Agency. "It's Official: The Biggest Solar X-ray Flare Ever Is Classified As X28." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 7 November 2003. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2003/11/031107060735.htm>.
European Space Agency. (2003, November 7). It's Official: The Biggest Solar X-ray Flare Ever Is Classified As X28. ScienceDaily. Retrieved March 18, 2024 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2003/11/031107060735.htm
European Space Agency. "It's Official: The Biggest Solar X-ray Flare Ever Is Classified As X28." ScienceDaily. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2003/11/031107060735.htm (accessed March 18, 2024).

Explore More

from ScienceDaily

RELATED STORIES