Powerful flare occurrs on Sun

A powerful high-class solar flare occurred on January 29. This was reported by the Heliogeophysical Service of the Institute of Applied Geophysics of the Russian Federation.

“On January 29, in the group of sunspots 3559 (N28W86), an M6.8 flare lasting 61 minutes was detected in the X-ray range. The outbreak was accompanied by a disruption of HF radio communications,” the report says.

Experts note the invasion of proton flows into near-Earth space after the flare, which can lead to a magnetic storm.

Recall that recently, on January 22, at approximately 10:30 pm ET, a pair of powerful solar flares occurred “almost simultaneously” from two different sunspots located on opposite hemispheres of our star. This extremely rare phenomenon, known as a sympathetic solar flare, is another reminder that we are rapidly approaching the explosive peak in the sun's 11-year cycle known as solar maximum.