Sun erupts with intense double flare

On Friday morning, astronomers observed two powerful solar flares erupting from the Sun's surface.

Report informs via TASS that the flares, classified as M2.1 and M2.5, are the second-highest level of intensity on the solar flare scale.

According to a report by the Institute of Applied Geophysics (FGBU "IPG"), the M2.1 flare lasted for 15 minutes and was detected in the X-ray range within a sunspot group. The M2.5 flare, which occurred in sunspot group 3928 (S14E68), had a duration of seven minutes.

Solar flares are categorized into five classes based on their X-ray emission power: A, B, C, M, and X. The minimum class, A0.0, corresponds to a power of 10 nanowatts per square meter at Earth's orbit. Each subsequent letter represents a tenfold increase in power. Flares are often accompanied by coronal mass ejections (CMEs), where clouds of solar plasma are expelled from the Sun. When these CMEs reach Earth, they can trigger geomagnetic storms.