Massive Solar Flare Unleashed by Sun: Largest in 4 Years

A huge solar flare was unleashed by the sun early Tuesday which was the most powerful in more than four years, according to scientists.

“It was a big flare,” said Joe Kunches to MSNBC, a space scientist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)’s Space Weather Prediction Center. “We lucked out because the site of the eruption at the sun was not facing the Earth, so we will probably feel no ill effects.”

The flared started at 3:48 a.m. ET.

It was rated a class X6.9 on the three class scale scientists use to measure the strength of solar flares.

Class X solar flares are the strongest type, while class C is the weakest and class M is medium strength.

The recent flare is part of the sun’s current cycle which began in 2008 and is expected to end around 2020 and is the largest solar flare recorded in the cycle thus far. To read more, click here.