X-Class Flare Disrupted Radio Signals In Australia

 Space.com reports that on Sunday, the Sun unleashed "a strong X1.9-class solar flare that briefly knocked out radio communications across Australia and parts of southeast Asia." 

    The eruption, which peaked at around 9:49 a.m. EST on Nov. 30 (0249 GMT Dec. 1) came from a newly emerging sunspot region AR429 as it rotated into view over the sun's northeastern limb.

    The flare triggered a strong (R3) radio blackout across the sunlit side of Earth at the time of the eruption. 

In other news of Earth-Sun interactions, "A Strange Zig-Zagging Solar Phenomenon Just Appeared Near Earth." 

    For the first time, researchers have detected a magnetic “switchback” right here near Earth. A switchback is a zigzag twist in magnetic field lines once thought to occur only in the sun’s superheated outer atmosphere. The unexpected discovery is a bit like finding out a rare deep-sea creature also lives in your local lake.

    The findings, published in Journal of Geophysical Research: Space Physics, don’t just expand the map of where these magnetic oddities appear. It hints that Earth’s magnetic bubble may be more tightly linked to the sun than scientists realized.

    “This structure meets the criteria for a magnetic switchback, a phenomenon frequently observed in the solar wind,” said the research team in the study.