Space weather: Know your solar flares

M-class solar flare.  NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory

“Scientists classify solar flares according to their x-ray brightness in the wavelength range 1 to 8 Angstroms. There are 3 categories: X-class flares are big; they are major events that can trigger planet-wide radio blackouts and long-lasting radiation storms. M-class flares are medium-sized; they can cause brief radio blackouts that affect Earth’s polar regions. Minor radiation storms sometimes follow an M-class flare. Compared to X- and M-class events, C-class flares are small with few noticeable consequences here on Earth.”

Sources

• The Classification of X-ray Solar Flares
• NASA Releases Images of M-class Solar Flare

Related post:  Coronal Mass Ejection of 1859

Coronal Mass Ejection of 1859

NASA illustration. 

"This massive CME released about 1022 kJ of energy - the equivalent to 10 billion Hiroshima bombs exploding at the same time - and hurled around a trillion kilos of charged particles towards the Earth at speeds of up to 3000 km/s. However, its impact on the human population was relatively benign as our electronic infrastructure at the time amounted to no more than about 124,000 miles (200,000 km) of telegraph lines. 

Mr Dale makes it clear in the latest issue of Physics World that these types of events are not just a threat, but inevitable. 

Nasa scientists have predicted that the Earth is in the path of a Carrington-level event every 150 years on average."

Read more: From blackouts to transport chaos: Solar superstorms pose a ‘catastrophic’ threat to life on Earth, warns scientist