Look out! Well, not really. Recently, the Sun released a Class X Solar Flare. It's not going to do much other cause some Auroras near the poles. What is a flare? Well, a flare is the release of a pent up energy stored inside some twisted magnetic fields (usually located on sunspots) on the Sun. The release of energy causes radiation on all levels of the EMS, or ElectroMagnetic Spectrum.
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| An X-Class Flare on the Sun. |
So that's the flare, but what does "X-Class" mean? It doesn't mean some fancy doomsday flare by some evil villain, despite literary authors love for the letter 'X'. Actually, the classification of 'X' reflects the size of the flare. Flares are divided into three sizes; 'X', 'M', and 'C'. Respectively, they mean Large, Medium, and Small. Large X-Class flares have been known to cause planet-wide radio blackouts, and some long lasting radiation storms. Now, since we haven't experienced any of these effects, I'm going to assume the flare wasn't pointed in out direction. In addition, flares are usually accompanied coronal mass ejections, but I believe I've covered them in a previous blog entry...
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