The most powerful solar flare of the year erupted from the sun today (April 11) sparking a temporary radio blackout on Earth, NASA officials say.
The solar flare occurred at 3:16 a.m. EDT (0716 GMT) and registered as a M6.5-class sun storm, a relatively mid-level flare on the scale of solar tempests.
"Increased numbers of flares are quite common at the moment, since the sun's normal 11-year cycle is ramping up toward solar maximum, which is expected in late 2013."
NASA's sun-watching Solar Dynamics Observatory recorded a stunning video of the strongest solar flare of 2013, showing it extreme detail. The spacecraft is one of several space-based observatories keeping track of the sun's solar weather events.
Today's M-class solar flare was about 10 times weaker than X-class flares, which are the strongest flares the sun can unleash.
The solar flare triggered a short-lived radio communications blackout on Earth that registered as a R2 event (on a scale of R1 to R5), according to space weather scales maintained NOAA, Fox added.
Meanwhile, the Solar Dynamics Observatory and other space observatories will continue to monitor the sun's activity.
"Humans have tracked this solar cycle continuously since it was discovered, and it is normal for there to be many flares a day during the sun's peak activity,"
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