Just recently, experts were predicting a decline in solar activity this year. However, the Sun itself is “paying no heed” to these forecasts and is showing signs of “defiance.” Staff at the Solar Astronomy Laboratory of the Space Research Institute (IKI) of the Russian Academy of Sciences have explained the reason for this phenomenon on their website.
Researchers have concluded that extremely frequent flares occur due to the mutual influence of several groups of sunspots on each other. The post includes a chart of solar flares, from which it is clear that five powerful explosions of M-class have taken place on our home star.
We can also expect another “surprise” in the coming day. IKI RAS warns of a new powerful flare on the Sun, which will trigger a strong geomagnetic storm on Earth. Its front is expected to reach the planet on Thursday, July 2, between 21:00 and 00:00 Moscow time. According to the forecast, this will be the most powerful storm since March 2026, rated at G3 level.
On June 3, a so-called black explosion was recorded on the Sun. Scientists explain that two powerful flares occurred in a single day, causing the cloud of neutral hydrogen in the solar corona to rupture and scatter.
In this state, hydrogen becomes opaque to the radiation of the Sun’s hot atmosphere because photons must be expended on its ionization, and they are completely absorbed in this layer. It appears as though a black blanket is thrown over the bright surface of the Sun, which persists until the neutral hydrogen is either fully ionized or drifts beyond the solar disk.
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