XPost: alt.astronomy.solar, alt.disasters.misc, alt.global-warming
XPost: talk.politics.guns

On 29 Mar 2022, pothead <potheadbjoe@gmail.com> posted some news:t1v4ug$39jlr$103@news.freedyn.de:

Oh no! We'll all die and the planet will eat us!

If you look closely — with solar eclipse glasses — you may find some dark
spots on the sun. Despite their frequent occurrences, this particular
cluster of sunspots is drawing concerns about solar flares.

While the sunspots were first visible from Mars, the sun has rotated to
now be seen from Earth. Now called AR3576, the cluster of sunspots
stretches for more than 124,274 miles, Chron reports.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration reported an unusually
strong solar flare at 12:53 a.m. CST on Friday, Feb. 16. The phenomenon
was discovered by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory, which monitors the
sun continuously.


The solar flare was categorized by NASA as a X2.5 flare. X-class refers to
the most intense flares, and the number signals its level of strength.

Also read: Austin will be cast in complete darkness by total solar eclipse
in April. What we know.

NASA first identified the "enormous sunspot" a week prior, on Feb. 9.
Occurring at 7:14 a.m. CST, experts reported it to be the strongest solar
flare since 2017 and was classified as a X3.3 flare.

Although both solar flares measured smaller than the X5 flare recorded on
New Year's Eve, experts wonder about the accuracy of the measurements. Dr.
Ryan Finch is a solar physicist and science communicator at the National
Solar Observatory in Boulder, Colorado. He took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to explain.


What are sunspots and solar flares?
Sunspots are relatively cooler areas on the sun's surface caused by deep concentrations of magnetic flux. They are typically followed by solar
flares, or "powerful bursts of energy," NASA's website explains.

Although the sun is nearly 100 million miles from Earth, flares and solar eruptions can affect radio communications, electric power grids and
navigation signals. They also pose risks to spacecraft and astronauts.

More on power grids: Should Texas be forced to join nation's power grids? Casar, AOC file bill to do just that.

What is Solar Cycle 25?
According to NASA, the sun's magnetic field flips top-to-bottom
approximately every 11 years. The sun's north pole becomes its south pole
and vice versa.

These cycles influence activity on the sun's surface, such as the
prominence of sun spots. Very few sunspots are present at the start of a
solar cycle, called the solar minimum. As the cycle continues into its
latest stage, the solar maximum, more sunspots appear than at any other
point in the cycle.

Recording of solar cycles began in 1755, and we are currently in the 25th
cycle since, the National Weather Service reports. Solar Cycle 25 began in
2019 and is expected to end around 2030.

https://www.statesman.com/story/news/state/2024/02/19/sunspot-ar3576-nasa- solar-flare-2024-sun-earth-mars/72657566007/

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