Sol (Sun) and its phenomena

[Gaby]

I love the non-hysterical, didactic updates. From XRAS.ru:

Fast protons from the Sun have reached Earth. The radiation load on spacecraft has increased dramatically.

Accelerated protons from the Sun arrived en masse in Earth's orbit, creating a “snowstorm” effect in images from space telescopes — one of the most reliable signs of a fast plasma ejection approaching Earth. Each “snowflake” in the image is the result of a fast proton hitting the telescope's detector during image exposure. Long lines are caused by particles hitting the detector at an acute angle and thus illuminating several pixels.

The density of protons with energies above 10 MeV in the vicinity of Earth has increased more than 1,000 times over the past day. The “red level,” above which high-energy particles have a dangerous effect on spacecraft electronics, has now been exceeded by about 50 times and continues to rise, which is only observed when the largest solar flares directly impact Earth. Last year, this parameter reached comparable and higher values only twice: on June 1, 2025, and November 12, 2025, and both times it preceded very strong impacts on Earth and magnetic storms above level G4, which began within a day after the arrival of the particles.