The last few weeks have brought a real treat to aurora borealis lovers – with some of the most beautiful spectacles seen in recent years.
But it's not all about beauty: they also reflect high activity on the Sun, which emitted a series of large solar flares.
During periods of high activity, a constant influx of charged particles from the Sun, known as solar winds, continually strikes the Earth.
This phenomenon is called solar storms and can affect astronauts in space just as much as technology on Earth, even causing power outages, but is not harmful to human life on land.
A recent strong solar flare was captured by a camera on February 4th at NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory.
It was the most intense type – class X – which the US Space Weather Prediction Center (SVPC) says is “usually uncommon, although not necessarily unusual”.
The SVPC warned of "severe degradation or loss of signal" in certain communication frequency bands "over much of the sunny side of the Earth" and said the outage could last up to several hours.
According to the SVPC, the latest events originate from Solar Active Region 4366 – a large and growing cluster of sunspots that appeared on January 30 and rotates around the Sun towards Earth.
Active regions are areas of strong magnetic fields on the Sun.
In recent years, the Sun has been in an elevated state of activity as part of its natural cycle.
Although the peak of this cycle was recorded at the end of 2024, we can still expect more major solar events this year.
- What are solar flares and can they cause power outages on Earth?
- What are solar storms and how dangerous are they?
- Will the Universe be left without new stars?
What are solar flares?
Solar storms are a normal part of our Sun's solar cycle.
They occur when the Sun emits huge bursts in the form of solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) – shooting light, energy and solar material into space.
Solar flares are electromagnetic radiation that travels from the Sun at the speed of light, reaching Earth in less than eight minutes.
They often occur together with CMEs, huge bursts of charged energy that are not fast – they travel at millions of kilometers per hour.
Solar storms can reach Earth at varying intensities.
Energy from the Sun can create bright lights in the sky called auroras, also known as polar lights.
How frequent are solar storms?
The Sun is made of hot, charged gas that moves, generating a strong magnetic field.
This field goes through a cycle, known as the solar cycle.
As a result, the sun's surface experiences regular periods of calm and stormy activity.
Every eleven years or so, at the peak of the solar cycle, the magnetic fields at the sun's north and south poles switch places.
According to an international group of experts co-sponsored by NASA and the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the current cycle, called Solar Cycle 25, began in December 2019.
The beginning of the solar cycle is solar minimum.
During this phase, the Sun has the fewest sunspots – dark patches that help scientists monitor our star's activity.
As solar activity increases, the number of sunspots increases.
The middle of the solar cycle is known as solar maximum, when the Sun has the most sunspots and its magnetic poles switch places.
NASA and NOAA say the Sun reached the solar maximum of the current cycle in 2024.
But solar activity will remain relatively high throughout 2026.
Sunspots are huge explosions of light and energy, and they appear darker because they are cooler than their surroundings.
Most cover an area about the size of Earth or larger.
Solar storms are more likely during the peak of solar maximum in its 11-year cycle.
What impact can a solar storm have on Earth?
According to NASA, flares and solar eruptions can affect radio communications, power grids, and navigation signals on Earth.
Two massive solar flares in 2017 fired from the Sun's surface interfered with devices such as GPS navigation systems.
In February 2011, a powerful solar flare disrupted radio communications across China.
Even earlier, in 1989, a solar flare caused a nine-hour power outage for millions of people in the Canadian province of Quebec.
In 1859, a massive solar flare caused a geomagnetic storm that disrupted Victorian railway signals and telegraph lines.
And it seems that this threat still exists today – a study from Lancaster University warns that the British rail network needs to be prepared for storms that could disrupt the network, despite being rare.
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