An X1.5 flare was produced on 3 July (peak at 14:29UT) by a region that started to develop only late on the previous day. Its location was very close to the northwest limb making an accurate assessment of its magnetic complexity difficult. At the moment of this writing, this active region NOAA 2838 has already produced 3 C-, 2 M- and 1 X-class flare (See the STCE's SWx classifications page for further info). The SDO/AIA 094 shows the flare shortly after its peak in extreme ultraviolet (EUV). Also the SWAP instrument onboard PROBA2 recorded the blast (see the difference image in EUV) .
The flare was the source of a small solar flare effect (only a few nT) in magnetometer readings by the Geophysical Observatory in Dourbes (data via Intermagnet), and was also recorded as a brief enhancement on some radio frequencies by the Humain Solar Observatory. HF communications were most likely briefly disturbed over Greenland, the North Atlantic and Brazil (D-RAP). See the respective images underneath.
A weak Type II radio burst was reported by NOAA/SWPC and recorded by the Humain Solar Observatory (See the STCE's SWx classifications page for further info). STEREO-A coronagraphic imagery showed the associated coronal mass ejection starting about an hour after the X-class flare. However, just as for the CME associated with the M2 flare earlier on the day, this CME does not seem to have an earth-directed component.
NOAA 2838 is expected to rotate over the solar limb during the next few hours, but strong flares from this region may be recorded up to 2 days later. This X1 flare was the first X-class flare of solar cycle 25 and the first since the X8 event on 10 September 2017 (see e.g. this STCE Newsitem), meaning 1391 days without X-class events. Other noteworthy droughts since the start of the systematic GOES observations in 1976 were from 14 December 2006 till 15 February 2011 (1523 days) and from 3 November 1992 till 9 July 1996 (1343 days).
