One of the strongest types of solar flares erupted on the sun.
Over the weekend, the sun produced a large solar flare that caused radio blackouts on Earth and may be followed by additional ones.
According to the Space Weather Prediction Center of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the solar flare occurred on Saturday with a peak time of 10:48 a.m. EST.
The flare, which originated from active region 3217 on the sun, was classified as an X1.1 flare, one of the sun's strongest flare types.
The strength of solar flares, which are enormous solar explosions that, according to NASA, send energy, light, and particles throughout our solar system
An X-class solar flare is what?
X-class: most powerfulweakest M-class, C-class, B-class, and A-class
According to NASA, each letter class corresponds to a tenfold increase in energy output, making an X-class 10 times more powerful than an M-class, a C-class 100 times more powerful, and so on.
Fireball: A meteor turns into a "beautiful" fireball over Europe hours after an asteroid strikes Earth.
Scientists are perplexed as to why the dwarf planet Quaoar has a ring rather than a moon.
According to NASA, X-class flares can be 10 times as large as the Earth.
How powerful can a solar flare of the X-class be?
According to NASA, the largest X-class flares are by far the solar system's largest explosions and are breathtaking to observe.
This reconnection process, during the largest events, "can generate as much energy as a billion hydrogen bombs."
A number scale from 1 to 9 is used within each class to quantify its precise impact. However, X-class flares can reach higher than 9, as demonstrated in 2003 when an X28 flare was so powerful
impact of the X1.1 flare on EarthOver South America, the flare's emissions that arrived on Earth on Saturday caused a brief radio blackout.
Depending on the strength of the flare, solar storms can send out into space coronal mass ejections that can disrupt power grids and navigational and communication systems on Earth.
However, the centre warned that more flares from the area could enable more impacts with Earth.