Russian scientists expect powerful solar flares
12:25 | 06/ 12/ 2006
MOSCOW, December 6 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's geophysical forecast center said Wednesday it expects powerful solar flares, vast explosions in the sun's atmosphere around sunspots, to occur in the near future.
Solar flares can expel billion-ton clouds of electrified gas or plasma into space at a speed of 1 million miles per hour. Eruptions from the sun can damage satellites and disrupt electrical and communications systems on Earth.
"An X9 solar flare was registered last Tuesday. Over 30 years of regular X-ray observations of the sun, only about 25 powerful flares have been registered, and they had never previously been observed in the solar minimum [the lowest point of the sun's 11-year activity cycle]. This is surprising, because normally such flares occur at the peak of the sun's activity," the center said.
Russian scientists expect powerful solar flares
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