Massive solar flare spotted as Sun flaunts its power

Shane McGlaun - Nov 7, 2011, 9:14 am CST
Massive solar flare spotted as Sun flaunts its power

Last Thursday a massive storm kicked up on the surface of the sun. The result of the storm was a gigantic and very powerful solar flare that was classified as X1.9 making it among the most powerful that the sun can produce. The flare was so powerful that 45 minutes after the flare erupted, radio communications on Earth were disrupted.

Scientists say that the area that the solar flare originated from is still active and is being watched. There is a big chance of more powerful storms being produced in the region. The region that is being observed is massive at about 50,000 miles line and several times wider than the Earth, the area is called AR11339.

NASA has several spacecraft pointed at the Sun looking for such events. Later on, the same day there was another big storm on the sun that resulted in a coronal mass ejection that headed towards Venus. Our sun is currently in the most active range of its 11-year cycle that will end in 2013. Check out the video below captured by NASA spacecraft to see the storm in action.


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