The Sun is ramping up towards its peak activity in its 11-year-cycle, and it’s doing so in a big way. In one 24-hour period, the Sun has erupted with three progressively more intense X-class solar flares from the same region, each with its own coronal mass ejection. The CMEs are not heading in the direction of Earth, but could affect some spacecraft.
These flares are pretty powerful, falling into the X-class category — the most intense type of solar flare. As the Sun approaches the peak of its activity cycle, which is expected to be some point in 2013, it’s likely we’ll see more flares like these.
via Geekosystem
Image: NASA/SDO/AIA
