A massive solar flare saturated X-ray detectors onboard
GOES satellites for 11 minutes. The last time such a
thing happened was in 2001. That flare was classified as an
X22--the biggest ever. This one was even bigger. It was
almost certainly the biggest flare ever recorded.
"This solar flare was the largest I have ever seen" said Dr.
Ernest Hildner, director of the NOAA/NASA Space Weather
Center. "The solar flare that occurred today was so large, we
do not have a chart high enough to register it. My best guess
would be between a X-25 and an X-30."
Ionizing radiation from the flare hit Earth's atmosphere soon
after the explosion and caused a severe radio blackout, which
radio listeners noticed across North America. The explosion
also hurled a coronal mass ejection into space, which could
deliver a glancing blow to our planet's magnetic field on Nov.
5th.
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