The Sun experienced a high-magnitude flare on the Sun-Earth line.

A solar flare of the highest magnitude was recorded, occurring in the same "legendary" region 4274. The maximum emission was recorded at 10:35 Moscow time. The cataloged magnitude is X1.79.

Images from space telescopes confirm that significant amounts of material were ejected from the Sun into interplanetary space after the flare. The ejection direction should be slightly off-center from the precise direction toward Earth, as the flare's center is shifted toward the northern hemisphere. However, this shift appears insignificant, and the impact on the planet should be close to frontal. Within 1-2 hours, the ejected plasma will appear in the solar vicinity and become visible in images from space coronagraphs as a gas cloud expanding around the star.

The explosion occurred after a rather long pause of about 3 days, during which the Sun transitioned from large flares to burning energy in numerous smaller events. Yesterday afternoon, significant changes occurred in the flare graphs—weak events almost disappeared, which could be interpreted as either a complete exhaustion of flare energy or a return to the previous regime of large explosions. The flare provides a clear answer to this question and also suggests certain insights into the forecast for solar activity in the coming days.

The main active centers on the Sun remain located in the immediate vicinity of the Sun-Earth line (in the center of the visible solar disk).

The flare partially destroyed a large prominence, which was still visible to the left of the active region yesterday and was only partially visible at the peak of the flare today. This could further increase the mass of the plasma cloud. Prominences consist of gas that is exceptionally dense by solar standards and are considered the main reservoirs for the accumulation of matter in the solar corona.

Another video of the flare is attached to this post—this time in a cooler temperature range, where there is no overexposure in the telescope images. The thin, swirling filament of gas formed on the left during the flare is precisely the process of "igniting" the prominence filament located there.

We are awaiting information from the coronagraphs.