Our sun emitted four solar flares at almost the exact same time Tuesday and there’s a strong chance they launched a solar storm heading for Earth.
The “exceptionally rare, ‘quadruple’ solar flare” burst into life in the early hours of Tuesday morning (local time EST), taking up about a third of the sun’s solar surface facing Earth, according to Live Science. The flares were reportedly said to be interconnected and may have launched a serious solar storm that could “slam into” Earth “in the coming days.”
Footage of the event was captured by NASA’s Solar Dynamic Observatory, showing a huge series of plasma loops hurling themselves from the sun’s surface. Scientists call these types of behaviors “sympathetic solar flares,” which happen when sunspots or filaments are seemingly unlinked to the naked eye but burst forth in quick succession, Live Science reported.
Watch 4 solar flares erupt from the sun at nearly the same time in extremely rare event!https://t.co/voVtFpLJYp pic.twitter.com/J4EqJypYw2
— SPACE.com (@SPACEdotcom) April 23, 2024
Think of it like a series of volcanic eruptions that on the surface look separate in terms of where the lava is spewing forth. In reality the vents are all linked to the same magma chamber, which is pushing its contents to the surface through any hole possible. (RELATED: Solar Storm Threats Set To Get Worse In 2024, According To Authorities)
Nearly all prior sympathetic solar flares recorded by science have involved just two spots, according to Live Science. As Tuesday’s flare contained at least four different spots, this is called a “super-sympathetic” flare, SpaceWeather stated.
Should the debris from these flares hit us, they’ll likely land on April 26, SpaceWeather said. However, this is still a pretty “big IF” at this stage of the analysis. But it’s definitely possible.