Powerful solar flare that erupted from a sunspot three times the size of the Earth caused widespread radio blackouts
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The solar flare was not facing Earth when it exploded, but its radiation still messed with our radio signals.
A powerful solar flare exploded on Tuesday, caused by a sunspot three times the size of the Earth.
The flare sent radiation that interfered with Earth's radio signals.
There have been a series of recent space weather events as the sun enters a period of peak activity.
The flare, classed as an M9.6 solar flare, was powerful enough to disrupt high frequency radio signals in North America, Central America, and South America, per the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
"Space weather can ground flights," Mathew Owens, a professor of space physics at the University of Reading said, adding that the Federal Aviation Administration "won't allow flights if they don't have both radio and satellite communications."
An M9 solar flare is a pretty powerful explosion, though it poses no health risk to humans. Solar flares rank from A, followed by B, C, M, and X classes. An M9 solar flare is just a rank below the most powerful class of solar flares.
The flare was caused by a large sunspot that was just out of view when the flare exploded. The eruption was only 1 percentage point from being an X-flare, and would probably have been classified as such if it had been in full view of Earth's observation satellites.
The sunspot, which has now come into view, appears to be about three times the size of the Earth, per spaceweather.com. Experts will likely keep a close eye on the spot as it comes to face the Earth this weekend.
Sunspots are areas where magnetic fields are particularly strong. They are known to be associated with space weather events.
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