[SFDXA] Sun Erupts with Huge X-Class Flare, Biggest of 2014

[Bill]

    Sun Erupts with Huge X-Class Flare, Biggest of 2014

    Solar maximum may be starting to wane, but the sun has no intention
    on slipping into the stellar doldrums quietly. At 7:50 p.m. EST on
    Monday (00:50 UTC, Feb. 25), a sunspot emerging from the
    southeastern limb of our nearest star unleashed its magnetic fury,
    exploding with an X5-class flare.
    X-class solar flares are the most powerful classification of flare
    and, if pointing toward Earth, can cause radiation storms and impact
    our planet's upper atmosphere, interfering with satellites and
    global communications. In this case, however, the flare erupted
    perpendicular to the direction of Earth, so its impact will be
    minimal. But it did give space observatories quite a fireworks
    display.the fairly quiescent sun suddenly erupts with a flash,
    leaving a magnetic tangle in its wake. The loops of magnetism and
    superheated plasma extend from the solar surface reaching high into
    the multimillion degree solar atmosphere (known as the corona). It
    is this region where space weather is spawned, generating rapid
    flows of charged particles (known as the solar wind), crackling with
    solar flares and sometimes blasting coronal mass ejections (CMEs)
    into interplanetary space.
    Monday's flare is the most powerful flare of 2014 and was generated
    by active region (AR) 1990. Interestingly, the same active region
    has been responsible for considerable activity during previous
    rotations across the surface of the sun and this third time, as
    noted by Tony Phillips at Spaceweather.com
    <http://spaceweather.com/>, is showing promise for an uptick in
    flaring activity.
    Although this latest X-class flare is impressive, it still occurred
    during a solar cycle that has been very lackluster. Solar cycles
    occur approximately every 11 years and reach a peak in magnetic
    activity during solar maximum. The amount of activity is measured by
    the number of sunspots that can be observed on the solar disk. Sun
    spots are caused by magnetic field lines erupting through the solar
    photosphere (the solar 'surface') --- therefore, the greater the
    magnetic activity, the higher the number of sunspots.
    Recent activity on the sun has prompted space weather forecasters to
    predict that the sun may see an increase in activity through 2014,
    creating a "double peak" solar maximum
    <http://www.space.com/20065-sun-solar-weather-cycle-peak.html>. But
    even if this does happen, the current cycle (Solar Cycle 24) is the
    weakest humanity has observed since Solar Cycle 14, which had a
    maximum sunspot count of 64.2 in February 1906
    <http://solarscience.msfc.nasa.gov/predict.shtml>. The sunspot
    maximum (so far) occurred last summer, hitting a peak of 67.
    The underlying reasons behind the variability in activity of our sun
    are still not fully understood, proving that even our nearest star
    can be a mystery.