National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) A dark plasma plume from the Sun has been spotted that has a 60% chance of causing a power outage on Earth this week.
At about 36,000 degrees (F), “cold” solar flares are roughly one-quarter the temperature of the Sun’s “warm” solar flares, which average 144,000 degrees (F), and are much better understood by scientists.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced on Monday that this dark plasma pulse This could lead to fluctuations in the power grid..
If the flare strikes by at least Friday, it could disrupt radio, aviation and satellite operations.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration warned on Monday that the dark plasma pulse from this “cold solar flare” could cause “power grid fluctuations.” Above is a composite image of the Sun from the Atmospheric Imagery Assembly (AIA) on Monday, July 22.
NASA video Solar Observation Satellite Dark clouds were shown erupting from the Sun as a cold solar flare, creating what appeared to be black smoke as cooler-than-average plasma moved northwards across the Sun’s surface.
So-called “cold” solar flares have been studied in earnest by astrophysicists over the past decade or so. Microwave radiation is equally high than a “warm” solar flare.
According to a 2023 study, these cool solar flares are “Increasing the peak frequency of gyrosynchrotron radiationThe exact form of radiation responsible for a flare’s powerful and destructive radio emissions.
But this most recent “cold” M-class solar flare erupted late Sunday from a sunspot region named AR3757.
Specifically, this flare was M1 class, which is at the lower end of the 10-point scale within the moderate M range.
Solar flares are divided into four alphabetical categories based on their intensity: the most intense are X-class flares, followed by M-class, C-class, and the weakest B-class.
Only X- and M-flares emit energy powerful enough to affect Earth, with their electromagnetic pulses potentially causing communications and electrical disruptions.
At least six M-class solar flares have caused radio disturbances internationally in the past 24 hours. One M1 flare caused radio disturbances in parts of the Western Hemisphere, and three occurred in Asia..
The largest was a magnitude 3.2 class flare that caused a radio communication blackout in the Pacific Ocean late Sunday. University of Athens Space Weather Forecast Center.
Experts say the Earth We’ll endure increasingly violent solar storms over the next year.
NOAA also warned that there is a 60% chance of a moderate or M-class solar flare occurring in the next 24 hours, and a 15% chance of a more violent X-class flare, which could cause radio blackouts around the world. Above is an AIA solar image from July 22.
Smithsonian astrophysicist Dr. Jonathan McDowellI told DailyMail.com in May that the sun had yet to reach “solar maximum”, the most active period in the solar cycle over 11 years, when greater turbulence increases energy output.
That “maximum” will finally arrive in mid-summer next year, or July 2025.
“It’s entirely possible that we could see much larger storms developing over the next year or two,” explained Dr McDowell, who is at the Smithsonian Institution and Harvard University’s Center for Astrophysics.
“This is certainly a scary time for satellite operators,” he added.
“This is the time when sunspots are most numerous and start to get larger.” Dean PesnellThe project scientist for NASA’s solar observatory agreed.
But “as AR3738 rotates out of view, the sun’s position may settle down quite a bit over the next few days to a week,” Pesnell told DailyMail.com in early July.
During the 2019 “solar minimum,” the number of visible sunspots on the Sun’s surface was virtually zero, but during the July 2025 maximum, National Space Weather Prediction Center It is estimated that there are up to 115 sunspots.
These magnetically dense, turbulent regions on the Sun’s surface produce solar flares and more powerful “coronal mass ejections” (CMEs) jets of plasma.
Although the 11-year cycle of solar activity adds only 0.1 percent to the total amount of radiation emitted by the Sun, the excess is highly concentrated in sunspot activity.
Last May, the amount of solar energy hitting the Earth increased to 173,000 terawatts (trillion watts). Farmers jamming GPS satellites Planting equipment was shut down across the Midwest.
“I’ve never seen anything like this before,” Patrick O’Connor, who owns a farm about a 90-minute drive south of Minneapolis, told The New York Times.
Currently, the only way space weather experts can predict when major solar storms will occur is by tracking the paths of sunspots.
“When you look at sunspots orbiting the sun, what we call ‘active regions,’ you think, ‘Oh, I see that sunspot, and it’s going to be pointing towards the Earth in two days,'” Dr McDowell said in May. “So if a sunspot suddenly pops out, that could be quite a problem.”
“So there is some degree of predictability,” he added. “We’re working to improve that.”
What is the solar cycle?
The Sun is a giant ball of hot, electrically charged gas that generates a powerful magnetic field as it moves.
This magnetic field repeats in cycles called the solar cycle.
Roughly every 11 years, the Sun’s magnetic field undergoes a complete flip, switching the positions of the Sun’s North and South Poles.
The solar cycle affects activity on the Sun’s surface, such as sunspots, which are caused by the Sun’s magnetic field.
Every 11 years, the Sun’s magnetic field reverses, switching the positions of the North and South Solar Poles. Solar cycles affect activity on the Sun’s surface, with periods of high solar activity (2001) producing more sunspots than periods of low solar activity (1996/2006).
One way to track the solar cycle is to count sunspots.
The beginning of a solar cycle is a solar minimum, when the sun has the fewest sunspots. Over time, solar activity and the number of sunspots increases.
The middle of the solar cycle is the solar maximum, the time when there are the most sunspots.
Once the cycle ends, solar activity will return to minimum again before a new cycle begins.
Giant solar eruptions, such as solar flares and coronal mass ejections, also increase during solar cycles.
These eruptions release powerful energy and materials into space that can affect Earth.
For example, eruptions can cause lights in the sky called the Aurora Borealis and can affect wireless communications and power grids on Earth.
