The SWPC said that the impulsive X1-class flare on Thursday also "appeared to have coronal mass ejection related signatures".
When these intense flares are aimed directly at Earth, they can also be accompanied by a massive eruption of solar particles, called a coronal mass ejection. The harmful radiation from a solar flare cannot pass through Earth's atmosphere to affect humans but they can disturb the atmosphere in the layer where GPS and communications signals travel. According to Nasa, the X1-flare is also likely to hit Earth's magnetic field on Saturday. William Murtagh, SWPC director, said that of the five sunspot clusters, those large magnetic storms that appear darker than the rest of the sun, only two are likely to cause the Earth any trouble. The US Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) said the X1-class flare caused a temporary, yet strong radio blackout across the sunlit side of Earth-centered on South America. reported that the flare originated from a sunspot called AR2887 currently positioned in the centre of the Sun and facing the Earth, based on its location. When the solar flare- powerful bursts of radiation-erupted on Thursday, it caused a strong radio blackout storm, which can disrupt some high-frequency radio broadcasts and low-frequency navigation. Nasa says X-class denotes the most intense flares, while the number provides more information about its strength-an X2 is twice as intense as an X1, an X3 is three times as intense, etc. "POW! The sun just served up a powerful flare," Nasa tweeted.
The US space agency said on Friday that the Sun on Thursday emitted an X1-class flare. The Solar Dynamics Observatory of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) captured a "significant solar flare" erupting from the Sun. The solar storm could also touch off geomagnetic activity that could make the Northern Lights visible as far south as the Hudson Valley New York. Four more astronauts will launch to the station on SpaceX's Crew-3 mission on Halloween.A geomagnetic storm is set to hit Earth on Saturday after the Sun blasted out millions of tons of ionised gas from one of five sun-spot clusters late on Thursday and may affect GPS signals, satellites and the electricity grid. "The flare will probably have no impact on the ISS," he added, referring to the International Space Station, which is home to seven astronauts from the U.S., Japan, France and Russia.
Thursday's solar flare caused a temporary radio blackout for high frequencies, as well as a GPS blackout for systems that use low-frequency signals, Young said. When they're aimed directly at Earth, the most powerful ones (the X1 flare on Thursday is the lowest level) can endanger astronauts in space, interfere with satellite communications signals and affect power grids on Earth. X-class solar flares are the strongest type of sun eruptions. It fired off a moderate, M-class solar flare on Sunday (Oct. Another active sunspot, called AR2891, rotated into view this week for its own two-week trip across the sun's face. Thursday's solar flare erupted from an active sunspot called AR2887 that is currently located in the center of the sun as it makes its way across the star's face, as seen from Earth. "The current estimates for the CME are that it will reach Earth on Oct. Young said the solar flare was accompanied by a coronal mass ejection (CME), a huge eruption of radiation, that spewed solar particles away from the sun at a mind-boggling 2.5 million mph (4 million kph).