(CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.) – The Sun produced its biggest flare in nearly a decade on Tuesday, just days after severe solar storms hit Earth and created dazzling northern lights in unknown places.
“Not done yet!” the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced in an update.
It is the largest eruption of this 11-year solar cycle, which is approaching its peak, according to NOAA. The good news is that Earth should have been out of the line of fire this time because the explosion erupted in a part of the Sun that was moving away from Earth.
NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory captured the bright flash of the X-ray burst. It was the strongest since 2005, ranking on the scale for such explosions as X8.7.
Bryan Brasher of NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center in Boulder, Colorado, said it may have been even stronger when scientists collected data from other sources.
It follows nearly a week of explosions and mass ejections of coronal plasma that threatened to disrupt power and communications on Earth and in orbit.
NASA said the weekend’s geomagnetic storm caused one of its environmental satellites to spin unexpectedly due to reduced altitude due to space weather and enter a protective hibernation known as safe mode. And on the International Space Station, the seven astronauts were advised to remain in areas with strong radiation protection. The crew was never in danger, according to NASA.
This story originally appeared on Time.com read the full story
