New intense solar flare recorded

An M-class solar flare—the second-highest category of intensity and the fourth recorded this month—was observed on the Sun on Tuesday.

Report informs via TASS, which cites the Institute of Applied Geophysics (FGBU "IPG"), that the event occurred at 05:12 Moscow time. "In the X-ray spectrum, an M1.2 flare lasting 30 minutes was registered in sunspot group 4168 (N04E03)," the institute reported.

Scientists had previously warned of an elevated likelihood of significant solar flares during the first weekend of August. This latest M-class event confirms those forecasts.

Solar flares are classified into five categories based on X-ray emission intensity: A, B, C, M, and X. The lowest class, A0.0, corresponds to an emission power of 10 nanowatts per square meter at Earth's orbit, with each successive class representing a tenfold increase in intensity. Such flares may also be accompanied by coronal mass ejections, whose plasma clouds, upon reaching Earth, have the potential to trigger geomagnetic storms.