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.
Space enthusiasts have been put on alert after NASA released a stunning image of a solar flare this week.
On Wednesday morning, NASA officials observed a strong solar flare emanating from the sun.
According to officials, the solar flare event peaked at 7:28 a.m. EST as it was viewed from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory.
This is part of a solar storm, an explosion of particles, energy, magnetic fields and material blasted into the solar system by the sun.
An image shared by NASA shows small pockets of the sun seemingly bursting into much brighter light, followed by hovering magnetic waves of energy.
NASA shares an image of a large solar flare event on Wednesday morning.
This solar flare event is classified as an X1.0 flare, with the X-class signifying the most intense flares.
The smallest solar flares on the classification scale are B-class, followed by C, M and X, which is the largest.
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Solar storms occur when the sun creates an entangled mess of magnetic fields, similar to a messy head of hair after a long night of sleep.
Additional photo of the large solar flare event on Wednesday.
(@NASASpaceAlerts / X)
Solar flares are powerful bursts of energy that can impact radio communications, electric power grids, navigation signals and pose a risk to spacecraft and astronauts, according to NASA.
Despite this, they do not cause direct harm to anyone on Earth.
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The strongest solar event on record occurred on Sept. 1, 1859, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
