After a week of massive solar storms, the sun has just erupted with the largest solar flare in half a decade.
Stunning video captured by NASA’s Solar Dynamic Observatory shows the moment the colossal explosion sent plumes of plasma into space.
This blast of radiation was the largest since the solar cycle began in 2019 and was even bigger than the bursts that produced the stunning Northern Lights last week.
Unfortunately, any hopeful stargazers will be disappointed to learn that this massive outburst is unlikely to produce any more auroras.
However, experts warn that this could still lead to disruption of radios and GPS satellites around the world.
The solar flare, classified as X8.8, was the strongest to emerge from this solar cycle that began in 2019. Circled in red is the solar flare as it erupted from a sunspot on the west side of the sun.
Last night at 4:51 PM BST, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Space Weather Prediction Center spotted a massive solar flare.
NASA’s Solar Dynamic Observatory captured this incredible thing across the entire electromagnetic spectrum.
The videos show how arcs of plasma, captured by magnetic fields, looped and twisted as the flame built up.
And when the resulting explosion ripped off the western side of the sun, the radiation was so powerful that it even seemed to disrupt NASA’s specialized cameras.
Classified as an X8.7 class flare, the explosion was dwarfed by last week’s flares, which only reached X2.2.
However, experts say the eruption may have been even bigger than their measurements suggest.
As these videos show, the flame emerged just beyond the sun’s western horizon, providing Earth with some protection from the radioactive blast.
While this may have kept Earth safe, it also means there is very little chance of seeing any Northern Lights this weekend.
The powerful X-class eruption erupted from the sun just over two hours before high-frequency radio blackouts were reported over the US and parts of South America.
Dr. Greg Brown, an astronomer at the Royal Observatory Greenwich, told MailOnline: ‘This solar flare is unlikely to produce large auroras for the simple reason that it is not pointing in our direction.
“For a coronal mass ejection, which often accompanies these types of eruptions, to cause an aurora on Earth, the Sun’s particle nebula must hit Earth’s atmosphere.”
The Met Office predicts that Earth may take a brief hit from two further solar outbursts in the coming days, although aurora activity will be limited.
A Met Office spokesperson told MailOnline: ‘While there was a large solar flare, due to where the sunspot is located, coronal mass ejections coming from that area will largely miss Earth.
“Any coronal mass ejections that occur in the coming days will have less impact as they are not likely to have a direct impact on Earth like last weekend’s.”
Although the effects on the Northern Lights may be limited, this solar flare is already impacting communications systems on Earth.
Solar flares like this produce enormous amounts of ultraviolet radiation that change the way radio waves pass through our atmosphere. This can cause radio interference on certain frequencies
When this radiation hits Earth, it changes the way radio signals travel through parts of the upper atmosphere.
This means that large eruptions can affect GPS navigation services, communications systems and other technologies.
NOAA reported strong radio interference across North America from approximately 5:51 PM BST (12:51 ET).
Users of high-frequency radio waves experienced intermittent or total loss of service when the Earth was bombarded with radiation.
Dr. Brown said: ‘Even though the flare itself is not pointed in our direction, it is likely to cause interference to some radio communications.
‘It should only affect high-frequency or shortwave radio signals. This is often used for military communications, amateur radio and some forms of radar.’
Solar flares are caused by magnetic field lines in the volatile outer layers of the Sun becoming entangled and breaking. releasing powerful X-rays and ultraviolet radiation.
Communications disruptions were reported over North and South America around 12:51 ET, shown here in red areas near the pole and over the Americas
The sunspot responsible for the solar flare, visible as a bright area on the far left of this image, is now rotating away from Earth. However, there’s a chance he could survive long enough to turn around and meet us again in about two weeks
These field lines form over cooler parts of the sun’s surface, known as sunspots, which appear as dark spots to our telescopes.
The specific sunspot responsible for last week’s solar storms and this recent solar flare is called active sunspot region 3664, which is so vast that it can easily fit fifteen Earths from edge to edge.
This makes it about the same size as the sunspot that caused the 1859 Carrington event, in which a solar flare set telegraph stations on fire and disrupted communications worldwide.
This sunspot has now turned towards the far side of the sun, meaning Earth will be protected from future explosions.
However, this active region may still retain its structure long enough to orbit back toward Earth in about two weeks.
And now that the sun is at the peak of its eleven-year activity cycle, there are likely to be more sunspots and more eruptions in the near future.