On May 3rd, at 10:22 Beijing time in 2024, the sun unleashed a powerful solar flare (X1.6 class).
At the time of the event, China was in daylight, and the flare had an impact on the ionosphere over China.
Solar flares are one of the most intense activities on the sun, with a cycle of about 11 years. The main observational feature is a sudden brightening of a localized area in the solar atmosphere, often accompanied by enhanced emissions of various energy ranges of electromagnetic radiation and particles, with rapid brightness increase and slower decrease.
Although the lifespan of a solar flare is only a few minutes to tens of minutes, the energy released is equivalent to the total energy of tens of thousands or even millions of powerful volcanic eruptions, or equivalent to billions of tons of hydrogen bombs exploding.
Solar flares, as intense energy eruptions on the sun's surface, are classified into five levels: A, B, C, M, and X, with A being the lowest energy level.
