Important Takeaways:

• Solar flare knocks out radio across US – and it won’t be the last
• The Sun has been very active lately, sending out scorching flares and frying communication systems back on Earth.
• The latest one was recorded on Monday when an X-class solar flare disrupted radio and navigation signals across North America.
• ‘X-class’ solar flares are the largest, most disruptive of flares and this one, classified as an X1.5, likely disrupted high-frequency radio communications on the sunlit side of Earth.
• According to the Met Office, the flare burst out of the largest and most active sunspot group currently visible on the Sun’s disk.
• This was the 20th X flare of the current 11-year solar cycle, which is due to reach its peak next year.
• Solar flares are powerful bursts of energy that can impact radio communications, electric power grids, navigation signals, and pose risks to spacecraft and astronauts.
• Now, it may be on track to rival some of the stronger cycles of the 20th century.

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