A strong solar flare may affect shortwave communications on earth, but the
disruptions in China will be minor, the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) said
Thursday.
According to the CAS National Space Science Center, an X9.3-class
solar flare emitting from a group of sunspots codenamed AR 2673 was spotted at
7:53 p.m. Wednesday.
The sunspots have triggered solar flares more than 10
times since Sunday and may continue to cause large flares in the following days,
CAS said in a statement.
They are the strongest spotted since 2005 and likely
to impact earth on Friday night or Saturday, according to CAS.
The flares may
also lead to strong disturbances in the earth's magnetosphere, ionosphere and
upper atmosphere, and affect the performance and safety of satellites, the
statement said.
A solar flare is a violent explosion in the sun's atmosphere
caused by huge magnetic activity. The flares produce large amounts of radiation
that can affect the earth's ionosphere and disrupt radio communications.
