Massive Solar Eruption Blasts NASA Probe Head-On Before Impacting Earth

A powerful solar eruption is likely to have hit NASA’s Parker Solar Probe head-on. This artist’s animation shows the spacecraft as it officially touched the Sun. Launched in 2018 to study the Sun’s biggest mysteries, the spacecraft has close-up observations of our star. This is allowing us to see the Sun as never before, and helping scientists answer fundamental questions about the Sun. Credit: NASA GSFC/CIL/Brian Monroe

A massive eruption of solar material, known as a coronal mass ejection or CME, was detected escaping from the Sun at 11:36 p.m. EDT on March 12, 2023.

The CME erupted from the side of the Sun opposite Earth. While resarchers are still gathering data to determine the source of the eruption, it is currently believed that the CME came from former active region AR3234. This active region was on the Earth-facing side of the Sun from late February through early March, when it unleashed fifteen moderately intense M-class flares and one powerful X-class flare.

Solar flares are classified based on their X-ray energy output, measured in watts per square meter (W/m²) at the Earth’s orbit. There are three categories: C-class flares are the weakest, M-class flares are of medium strength, and X-class flares are the most powerful. Each category is ten times stronger than the previous one, meaning an M-class flare is ten times more powerful than a C-class flare, and an X-class flare is ten times more powerful than an M-class flare.

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