Sun Unleashes X-Class Solar Flare Combined With CME over the Weekend [VIDEO]

The Sun unleashed a significant X-class solar flare last week. Researchers say that this solar flare was accompanied by a strong coronal mass ejection (CME).

NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) captured the solar activity that occurred on March 29. The solar flare peaked at 1.48 p.m. Based on the images captured, the massive flare erupted from the sunspot Active Region (AR) 2017 at 10 degree North and 48 degrees West.

Last month, the Sun emitted a mid-level solar flare on March 12 from the surface AR 11996. The flare peaked at 6.34 p.m. EDT and this activity was also captured by SDO.

After five hours of the Sun in the AIA 193 passband and after the solar activity, a dark region spread across the North Pole. This is referred to as the coronal dimming event, a reduction in the brightness of the surface of the Sun, explains Dean Pesnell in the official SDO BlogSpot.

Following this event, the NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center issued a G1 (Minor) geomagnetic storm watch for April 2 as a series of coronal mass ejections are expected to occur that are linked with the March 29 massive solar flare from AR 2017h.

It was also reported on SpaceWeather.com that the massive flare triggered a brief radio blackout event on March 29 and produced signals on its own.

"The explosion above sunspot AR2017 sent shock waves racing through the sun's atmosphere at speeds as high as 4800 km/s (11 million mph). Radio emissions stimulated by those shocks crossed the 93 million mile divide to Earth, causing shortwave radio receivers to roar with static," explained Stan Nelson, Radio Engineer, Roswell NM.

Solar Flares are nothing but bursts of powerful radiation that sling hazardous materials from space toward Earth. But luckily none of these pass through the Earth's atmosphere to cause damage. But it has the potential to knock down radio signals.

They are classified based on their intensity similar to the hurricanes. The strongest solar flares are classified as X-class flares and the weakest is the A-class flares followed by B, C and M. The most noteworthy solar flares are M and X class solar flares. To classify the various strengths of the flares, they are designated numbers such as 1, 2, 3, higher the number more powerful is the strength.