During the years 1999 & 2000 the solar maximum occurred; the time of an 11-year cycle when the Sun exhibits greatest activity. This was the first chance for the Xray Camera on SOHO to observe solar activity at maximum. On July 14, 2000, the camera recorded one of the largest Xray flares to date. In review, this article from NASA recalls the ensuing storm and it’s effects on our planet.
July 14, 2000 — This morning NOAA satellites and the orbiting Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) recorded one of the most powerful solar flares of the current solar cycle. Space weather forecasters had been predicting for days that an intense flare might erupt from the large sunspot group 9077, and today one did.
“Energetic protons from the flare arrived at Earth about 15 minutes after the eruption,” says Gary Heckman, a space weather forecaster at the NOAA Space Environment Center. “This triggered a category S3 radiation storm.”
Right: This SOHO animation of an X-class solar flare was recorded by the spacecraft’s Extreme-ultraviolet Imaging Telescope at 195 angstroms. This recording nicely shows a flare, followed by a torrent of energetic particles that arrived about 15 minutes later, creating snow on the images as the particles bombarded the camera’s electronic detectors. A second flare does not create as much noise. The duration of this sequence is almost a minute, so keep watching.
According to NOAA space weather prediction scales, an S3 storm can cause the following effects on satellites: single-event upsets, noise in imaging systems, permanent damage to exposed components/detectors, and decrease of solar panel currents. It can also expose air travelers at high latitudes to low levels of radiation, the equivalent of a brief chest x-ray.
[more]
Presently, the sun is between maxima. Although the sun is fairly quiet now, there can still be the occasional flare up.