Two powerful solar flares detected on August 22 — scientists

MOSCOW, August 23. /TASS/. Scientists detected three powerful explosions on the Sun on August 22, Russia’s Fedorov Institute of Applied Geophysics told TASS.
The first flare was detected in the early hours of Thursday.
“On August 22, an M5.1/2N flare that lasted 18 minutes was recorded in the X-ray spectrum at 1:08 a.m. Moscow time (10:08 p.m. GMT Wednesday – TASS),” the scientists said.
Also, an M1.5 flare that went on for 15 minutes was recorded at 1:39 p.m. Moscow time (10:39 a.m. GMT). Both flares briefly affected short-wave communications, the institute added.
Solar flares are divided into five classes according to their strength: the smallest ones are A-class, followed by B, C, M and X. A0.0 class is equal to the radiation energy found in the Earth’s orbit, 10 nanowatts per square meter. Each letter stands for a 10-fold increase in energy output. As a rule, the flares, known as giant explosions on the sun, send solar plasma into space, and the clouds of these charged particles can bring about geomagnetic storms when reaching the Earth.