X1.2 solar flare erupts from Active Region 3182
Image credit: NASA SDO/AIA 304, The Watchers
A major solar flare measuring X1.2 at its peak erupted from Active Region 3182 at 00:57 UTC on January 6, 2023. The event started at 00:43 UTC and ended at 01:07 UTC.
A 10 cm Radio Burst (Ten flare), with a peak flux of 420 sfu and lasting 3 minutes, was associated with this event.
A 10 cm radio burst indicates that the electromagnetic burst associated with a solar flare at the 10cm wavelength was double or greater than the initial 10cm radio background.
This can be indicative of significant radio noise in association with a solar flare.
This noise is generally short-lived but can cause interference for sensitive receivers including radar, GPS, and satellite communications.
A shortwave radio blackout caused by the flare affected Indonesia, Australia, New Zealand, and islands in the south Pacific Ocean.
The location of this region — close to the east limb — does not favor Earth-directed coronal mass ejections (CMS). However, this will change in the days ahead as it rotates toward the center of the solar disk.
This region is the source of a large asymmetric partial halo CME detected on January 3:
Space Weather Message Code: SUMX01 Serial Number: 121 Issue Time: 2023 Jan 06 0149 UTC SUMMARY: X-ray Event exceeded X1 Begin Time: 2023 Jan 06 0043 UTC Maximum Time: 2023 Jan 06 0057 UTC End Time: 2023 Jan 06 0107 UTC X-ray Class: X1.2 Optical Class: 2b Location: S18E68 NOAA Scale: R3 - Strong Potential Impacts: Area of impact consists of large portions of the sunlit side of Earth, strongest at the sub-solar point. Radio - Wide area blackout of HF (high frequency) radio communication for about an hour.
Teo Blašković founded The Watchers in 2011 and edited it until 2026, covering seismic and volcanic activity, extreme weather, space weather and near-Earth objects. Articles on this page are his archive.
