Three powerful flares occurred on the Sun in three hours

On the Sun, three powerful flares occurred in three hours on Sunday, February 1. This was reported by specialists from the solar astronomy laboratory.

These are flares of the second strongest class M — all three were recorded between 4 and 7 AM Riga time. Astronomers noted that such solar activity had not been observed since January 21. They clarified that after a very strong surge in mid-January, a prolonged period of decreased activity was expected, lasting up to a month or more; however, the trend unexpectedly broke the day before.

The sharp increase in solar activity is associated with a large group of sunspots No. 4366, which began to grow rapidly on January 31 in the northeastern part of the solar disk. As a result, specialists continued, 21 flares were recorded yesterday compared to 7 on January 30.

"Since the morning, as already noted, the level of flares has exceeded the M threshold, separating strong events from ordinary ones (M flares are on average 10 times stronger than ordinary C-class flares), and almost certainly today and tomorrow the Sun will begin to try to break through the X-level threshold," the scientists shared. Astronomers added that currently solar activity is not affecting Earth.

On January 18, the first flare of the highest class X was detected on the Sun this year.