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Sun Releases Significant Solar Flare Over the Weekend, Say NASA Scientists

By  //  April 18, 2022

solar flare peaked at 11:34 p.m. ET on Saturday

NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory captured this image of a solar flare – as seen in the bright flash in the upper left portion of the image– on April 16, 2022. The image shows a subset of extreme ultraviolet light that highlights the extremely hot material in flares, and which is colorized in SDO channel color AIA 304. (NASA Image)

(NASA) – The Sun emitted a significant solar flare on April 16, 2022, peaking at 11:34 p.m. EST, according to NASA scientists.

NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, which watches the Sun constantly, captured an image of the event.

Immediately following the event, a massive sun eruption known as a coronal mass ejection happened on the Sun, according to the U.S. Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC), which is overseen by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

According to SWPC, the solar flare spawned a brief radio blackout and was classified as a Type II solar radio burst.

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 X-Class flare. X-class denotes the most intense flares, while the number provides more information about its strength.

More info on how flares are classified can be found here.