Major X-Class flare alert! Effects are still underway.
From spaceweather.com, an outlet of NASA:
PROTONS ARE RAINING DOWN ON EARTH: An
S2-class radiation storm is underway following today's strong X3.4-class solar flare, described below. Energetic solar protons raining down on Earth's upper atmosphere are causing a
polar cap absorption event, interfering with the reception of shortwave radio signals at high latitudes.
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MAJOR X-CLASS SOLAR FLARE: Today at 1314 UT, the sun produced one of the most powerful solar flares in years, an
X3.4-class explosion from just behind the sun's southwestern limb. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) recorded the extreme ultraviolet flash:
The source of the flare appears to be departing sunspot AR3575. Because the blast site was eclipsed by the edge of the sun, the flare was probably even stronger than its X3.4 classification suggests. This was a big explosion.
Hours after the flare's peak, Earth is still feeling the effects of the blast. Solar protons energized by the flare are following
curved magnetic field lines from the sunspot back to our planet. The resulting hailstorm, called a "radiation storm," is still intensifying at the time of this writing and has just reached category
S2:
This plot shows what NOAA's GOES-18 satellite is seeing right now. The colored lines count the number of energetic protons streaming past the satellite en route to Earth. Green and blue are of special interest because they trace "hard protons" capable of upsetting spacecraft electronics, e.g., causing reboots of onboard computers and temporarily fogging cameras.
The explosion also hurled
a bright CME into space. It will not hit Earth. Instead,
a NASA model of the CME shows it is heading for Mercury, Venus and Mars. It will hit all three planets this weekend.