The massive sunspot in front of the earth doubled overnight; Scientists say there is nothing to worry about

A sunspot that lands directly on the planet has the potential to create solar flares, but experts trying to reduce concerns about the impact of solar flares on Earth say it is not uncommon to see the sunspot.

According to the website Phys.org, Rob Steinberg“Active Zone 3038” or The AR3038 got bigger last week, and this is how sunspots behave. “These spots usually grow over time, go through various stages and then disappear.”

According to NASA, sunspots appear darker because they have a lower temperature than other parts of the sun’s surface. The reason it is cooler is that sunspots form where strong magnetic fields do not allow heat inside the sun to reach the surface of the star. “I think the simplest way to explain it is to say that sunspots are areas of magnetic activity,” says Rob Steinberg.

NASA says solar flares, typically caused by sunspots, are “sudden bursts of energy as a result of the entanglement, intersection, or rearrangement of magnetic field lines near sunspots.” “You can look at it like a rubber band,” Steinberg explains. If you wrap a few clamps around your finger, they will eventually twist too much and tear. “The only difference is that the magnetic fields are reconnected, and when this connection is reconnected, a solar flare is formed.”

According to Steinberg, the larger and more complex the sunspot, the more likely it is that solar flares will occur.

Two huge groups of sunspots on the surface of the sun.

سی. Alex Young“Studies show that the size of the AR3038 sunspot has doubled every day for the past three days, and is now about 2.5 times the size of Earth,” said a member of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. The current diameter of this sunspot reaches 31,900 km.

“The AR3038 sunspot was big yesterday, but today it is giant,” writes Spaceweather. The size of this sunspot is growing rapidly and has doubled in the last 24 hours. “The AR3038 has an unstable beta-gamma magnetic field that stores energy for M-type sunspots and is located directly on the ground.”

Young says the sunspot in question produces small flares but does not have the complexity to make larger flares. According to the researcher, the AR3038 sunspot is 30% more likely to make medium-sized flares. On the other hand, the probability of producing large solar flares by this sunspot is only 10%.

AR3038 sunspot 10% more likely to produce destructive flares with the ability to disrupt ground radio communication systems

Live Science writes that when a solar flare hits the Earth’s upper atmosphere, the X-rays and ultraviolet rays ionize the atoms and make the reflection of high-frequency radio waves impossible. As a result, a so-called radio blackout occurs.

When the solar flare is on its way, those areas of the earth that have been illuminated by the sun will experience radio blackouts. These blackouts are identified on a scale of R1 to R5, and the larger the number, the more severe the blackout. In the last two months, two solar flares have caused R3 level blackouts in the Atlantic, Australia and Asia.

Because solar flares travel at the speed of light, they reach us at an average distance of approximately 150 million kilometers in just eight minutes. If a sunspot forms near the sun’s equator (exactly where AR3038 formed), it typically travels around the sun after only two weeks so that its position is not facing the earth. Currently, the AR3038 is slightly to the north of the Sun’s equator and is halfway there, so the Earth will continue to be under the sun for a few more days.

Sunspots can also cause high-powered geomagnetic storms. During these storms, the Earth’s magnetic field is slightly compressed by waves of very energetic particles, and the molecules in the atmosphere discharge the energy in the form of light after it falls. As a result, colorful aurorae will be seen in the sky. The motion of these energetic particles can severely disrupt the Earth’s magnetic field and cause satellites to crash. Severe geomagnetic storms could also paralyze the Internet, scientists say.

William Dean PencelScientists at the Solar Dynamics Observatory say the sunspot in question is a “medium-sized active region” whose growth rate is not considered abnormal and is still somewhat small in area. “The AR3038 is exactly the kind of active region we expect to see in this part of the solar cycle,” says Pensel.

Andres Munoz ‌ Jaramillo“People on Earth should not worry about the AR3038 sunspot,” says a senior scientist at the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas. “There is no need to panic,” he said. “These sunspots always appear. We are ready and do everything in our power to anticipate and mitigate their effects. “Many of us should not be insomniac because of such incidents.”

According to Andres Munoz, Jaramillo solar flares have different levels. The smallest type of solar flares are Class A flares, followed by Class B, C, M, and X flares, which have the highest power among solar flares. In each class of flares, another scale based on numbers is used, and the larger the number, the greater the intensity of the solar flares.

Munoz Jaramillo says Class C flares can not significantly affect the planet. More severe Class M flares may disrupt radio communications in the Earth’s poles. Class X flares have the potential to disrupt the operation of satellites, communications systems and power grids, and in the worst case can cause power outages.

Rob Steinberg says solar flares are less common and Class X flares are less common. In a solar cycle that lasts about 11 years, approximately 2,000 M1 sparks, 175 X1 sparks, and 8 X10 sparks typically occur.On the other hand, high-powered X20 flares and stronger flares are seen less than once in each solar cycle. The current cycle of the sun has started in December 2019 (December and December 2009).

Steinberg says the AR3038 sunspot has caused Class C solar flares. No M or Class X flares have been observed in this active solar region, but Steinberg says we may see stronger solar flares this week and beyond.