Powerful Solar Storm , Expected to Disrupt , Radio Signals .<br />'Newsweek' reports that a solar storm, caused by an <br />X-class solar flare that took place on New Year's Eve, <br />was expected to impact Earth on January 2. .<br />Experts warned that the resulting solar storm <br />could start disrupting radio signals and cause <br />bright auroras on that date.<br />The super #solarstorm launched <br />during a X4.98-flare New Year's Eve <br />will clip Earth. NOAA prediction <br />shows impact early January 2 (UTC), Tamitha Skov, space weather physicist, via X .<br />The storm should hit hard, <br />but last less than a day. <br />Expect bright, but short-lived <br />#aurora plus #radio signal <br />disruptions on Earth's nightside, Tamitha Skov, space weather physicist, via X .<br />The storm should hit hard, <br />but last less than a day. <br />Expect bright, but short-lived <br />#aurora plus #radio signal <br />disruptions on Earth's nightside, Tamitha Skov, space weather physicist, via X .<br />A solar flare is an ejection of electromagnetic <br />radiation, usually in the form of X-rays. .<br />Typically, solar flares are emitted from sunspots on <br />the surface of the sun and occur when magnetic fields <br />in those sunspots become reorganized or entangled.<br />The weakest are the A-class flares, <br />followed in intensity by the B-class, <br />C-class, M-class—these are <br />moderate—and the X-class, Gonzalo José Carracedo Carballal, astrophysics researcher <br />at Madrid's Instituto Nacional de Técnica, via 'Newsweek'.<br />According to Jesse Woodroffe, a program scientist in the <br />Heliophysics Division at NASA headquarters, solar flares are, "around a million times <br />stronger than a nuclear bomb.".<br />However, 'Newsweek' reports that a nuclear explosion takes <br />place in a highly localized position of time and space, while the energy emitted by solar flares spreads across a vast distance.<br />The X-class event on December 31 was the most <br />powerful on record since the beginning of the <br />current solar cycle, which started in December of 2019
