The largest solar spot complex of the year began to release energy, the first X flare occurred.

At 05:01 UTC, a solar flare of level X (the exact event score was X1.1) was recorded. The flare was impulsive and lasted only about 15 minutes. Typically, such short explosions do not result in plasma ejections, which are the primary means of impact on Earth, although the first videos received from orbit appear to show upward movement of material from the explosion\'s epicenter. Therefore, it is possible that some solar plasma escaped into interplanetary space, but the chances of hitting Earth from the observed angle are still very small, and the geoeffectiveness of the event is presumably low.

Apparently, the solar complex 4294-4296-4298 has begun to release energy accumulated in sunspot complex 4294-4296-4298 in the form of explosions. This group, observed for several days opposite Earth, is the largest this year, and its central region, 4294, is the second largest in several years (since the beginning of the current 25th cycle). Potentially, with such a large solar center, it must possess a very large amount of energy, which, although it hasn\'t shown any signs of it before, may have finally begun to expend it. Globally, the situation seems clear, but in terms of detail, the flare creates more mysteries than answers. The explosion occurred in the smallest of the sunspot groups that make up the 4294-4296-4298 complex, namely, group 4298, with an area of just 120 units, while the other two regions, 4294 and 4296, have areas of 800 and 680 units, respectively. Thus, only the smallest of the regions released its energy this morning. The largest centers, however, continue to remain silent and accumulate energy. Since the beginning of December, that is, for seven days, they have not experienced a single flare, even at level M, let alone at the highest level X.

At the moment, the main practical interest is the question of whether a plasma ejection did occur and where it is directed. In parallel, let\'s try to understand whether there\'s any logic to what happened. And lest we seem to be the only ones who don\'t understand solar physics, NOAA, the world\'s leading agency and, in particular, responsible for assigning numbers to active regions on the Sun, even before the event, plotted the following probabilities for X flares today on its morning weather map: 4296 - 5%; 4294 - 10%; 4298 - 1%. A one-percent probability was reached.