The Sun emitted a significant solar flare on April 16, 2022, peaking at 11:34 p.m. EST. NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), which watches the Sun constantly, captured an image of the event.
Solar flares are powerful bursts of energy. Flares and solar eruptions can impact radio communications, electric power grids, and 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.
To see how space weather may affect Earth, please visit NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center, 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 regularly monitors the Sun and our space environment with a network of spacecraft that investigate everything from the Sun’s activity to the solar atmosphere, as well as the particles and magnetic fields in the space surrounding Earth.
Never miss a breakthrough: Join the SciTechDaily newsletter.
Follow us on Google and Google News.