See the strong solar flare that erupted from the Sun on Tuesday
The flare is classified as an X1.0 flare, one of the most intense classes of flares, NASA said.
Space weather explained: What is a solar flare?
The largest explosions in the solar system, a solar flare is an explosion of energy that occurs on the sun’s surface, often appearing as a localized burst of bright light.
A video released by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory shows the Sun emitting a solar flare on Tuesday at 1:09 p.m. EDT.
The flare is classified as an X1.0 flare, according to NASA. "X" denotes the most intense class of flare, and "1.0" denotes that the intensity of the flare is on the lower end within the X class.
NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory captured this image of a solar flare – as seen in the bright flash on the lower left – on June 20, 2023. The image shows a subset of extreme ultraviolet light that highlights the extremely hot material in flares, and which is colorized in yellow. (NASA / SDO / NASA)
Solar flares are explosions of energy that occur on the Sun’s surface, often appearing as a localized burst of bright light. The explosion is the rapid release of magnetic energy that builds up in the sun’s atmosphere, according to NASA.
This energy can travel about 93 million miles to Earth, where it can impact our technology. In fact, radiation from solar flares can disrupt long-distance radio signals, damage satellites and other instruments.
For example, a X2.2 solar flare on February 17 led to a "strong radio blackout" on Earth, according to NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC). The radio blackout ranked 3 out of 5 on the SWPC radio blackout scale.
A solar flare that exploded on the Sun and led to a solar storm here on Earth was captured by the GOES-East weather satellite. February 22, 2023. (NOAA / NOAA)
The most powerful flare in history made much more of an impact. In the fall of 2003, NASA recorded a flare measuring at X28, and it produced particles that bombarded instruments around Earth.
The X28 flare recorded on November 4, 2003. (ESA & NASA / SOHO / NASA)
Measuring 5 out of 5 on the SWPC scale, this bombardment resulted in satellite engineers being forced to switch some satellites to operate in safe mode, NASA said. Plus, astronauts aboard the International Space Station were advised to seek shelter from the elevated radiation levels.
On Earth, airliners were rerouted, and polar routes were temporarily restricted, according to NASA.