The sun released the strongest solar flare in a decade.

This morning (September 6), the sun released two powerful solar flares-the second was the most powerful flare in more than a decade.

At 5: 00 am EST (09 10 GMT), a large sunspot on the surface of the sun broke out with an X-class solar flare, the most powerful type of solar storm. According to the data of the Space Weather Forecast Center (SWPC) of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of the United States, this flare was the strongest since 20 15 years, with the magnitude of X2.2, but only three hours later, it was at 8: 02 am Eastern Time (GMT 1202), which was dwarfed by the magnitude of X9.3 flare. The last X9 flare occurred in 2006 (entering X9.0).

According to SWPC, the flare caused the radio to lose power: the high-frequency radio experienced "a large area of power failure and lost contact with the sunny side of the earth for one hour", and the low-frequency communication used for navigation was degraded for one hour. [Wrath of the Sun: The Worst Solar Storm in History]

At 8: 02 a.m. Eastern Time (GMT 1202), a huge solar flare with the magnitude of X9.3 broke out in the sun. (Steve Paleta/SDO/AIA) Solar flares occur when the solar magnetic field (which produces diamonds on the surface of stars) is twisted and reconnected, releasing energy outward and overheating the surface of the sun. The X-class solar flare will trigger a radiation storm in the upper atmosphere of the earth and cause a radio power failure, as happened this morning.

During a large solar flare, the sun will also release a large amount of high-energy plasma from its body. This event is called Coronal Mass Ejection (CME).

"By radio transmission, it shows that CME is possible," SWPC space scientist Rob Steenburgh told Space. However, we have to wait until we get some coronal images that can capture this event before we can get the exact answer.

Sunspot is the cause of flare activity area 2673 this morning, which is the smaller of the two large sunspots on the sun's surface. It is only seven earths wide and nine earths high. Astrophysicist Carl tamms said:

Yesterday, the same sunspot launched an M-class solar flare (equivalent to one tenth of the size of an X-class flare), which caused a coronal mass ejection against the Earth, and may cause auroras as far away as Ohio and Indiana tonight.

The Solar Dynamics Observatory of NASA captured this scene: at 4: 33 pm EST on Monday (September 4), the sun showed a mid-level flare. (National Aeronautics and Space Administration /SDO) X-class flare has the greatest energy and the potential to destroy earth communication. The orbiting solar and heliospheric observatory is a joint project of NASA and the European Space Agency. Because of its location, it has lost contact with the earth at present. Therefore, Ba tamms wrote on Twitter that observers will not be able to see any coronal mass ejections caused by flares before 10:30 pm EST (GMT 1830).

If it is aimed at the earth, this jet may lead to more spectacular aurora, but it may also damage satellites, communications and power systems. Steenburgh said that charged plasma clouds will arrive in 1 to 3 or 4 days, although CME triggered by high-energy flares usually arrives soon.

The surge of solar activity seems surprising, because the sun is approaching the lowest value of its solar activity, and its activity level is the lowest level in its 1 1 annual cycle.

Steenburgh said that we are moving in the direction of "the least solar activity, but interestingly, events can still occur, but not so frequently". For example, we won't have X-ray bombs every day for a week-this activity is not so frequent, but the potential intensity will not decrease.

"These activities are just part of living with stars," Steenburgh added.

E-mail Sarah Lewin of slievin@space or follow her @ SarahExplolans. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. An original article about space. "