![]() ![]() Thursday's flare appeared to also spawn a coronal mass ejection, SWPC officials said. Such eruptions send charged particles out from the sun at a whopping 1 million mph (1.6 million kph) or more, and typically take a few days to reach Earth. They can also be accompanied by a massive eruption of solar particles, called a coronal mass ejection. When they are aimed directly at Earth, the most powerful X-class flares can interfere with radio and satellite communications and supercharge the planet's aurora displays. Flares that are classified X10 or stronger are considered unusually intense." "An X2 is twice as intense as an X1, an X3 is three times as intense, etc. "X-class denotes the most intense flares, while the number provides more information about its strength," NASA officials explained in a statement. Flares are classified in a letter system, with C-class storms being relatively weak, M-class more moderate and X-class flares as the strongest. Solar flares are massive eruptions of radiation from the sun that send charged particles streaming outward from the star. "POW! The sun just served up a powerful flare," NASA officials wrote on Twitter alongside a photo of the flare. The greatest missions to the sun of all time What's inside the sun? A star tour from the inside out The sun's wrath: Worst solar storms in history ![]()
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