Strong Solar Flare Erupts from Sun

The Sun emitted a strong solar flare, peaking at 1:44 p.m. ET on May 9, 2024. NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, which watches the Sun constantly, captured an image of the event.

A composite image of the Sun in blue, green, and red shows an X-class flare as a large, bright burst of white and red light in the lower right. — NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory captured this image of a solar flare – as seen in the bright flash in the lower right – on May 9, 2024. The composite image combines three wavelengths of extreme ultraviolet light that highlight the extremely hot material in flares and which is colorized in green, blue, and red. Credit: NASA/SDO

Solar flares are powerful bursts of energy. Flares and solar eruptions can impact radio communications, electric power grids, navigation signals, and pose risks to spacecraft and astronauts.

This flare is classified as an X1.1 flare. X-class denotes the most intense flares, while the number provides more information about its strength.

To see how such space weather may affect Earth, please visit NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center https://spaceweather.gov/, the U.S. government’s official source for space weather forecasts, watches, warnings, and alerts. NASA works as a research arm of the nation’s space weather effort. NASA observes the Sun and our space environment constantly with a fleet of spacecraft that study everything from the Sun’s activity to the solar atmosphere, and to the particles and magnetic fields in the space surrounding Earth.