Sun shoots out biggest solar flare in nearly a decade

The sun has produced its biggest flare in nearly a decade, days after severe solar storms pummelled Earth and created dazzling Northern Lights in unaccustomed places.

“Not done yet!” the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced in an update.

It is the biggest flare of this 11-year solar cycle, which is approaching its peak, according to the NOAA.

The good news is that Earth should be out of the line of fire this time because the flare erupted on a part of the sun moving away from Earth.

Nasa’s Solar Dynamics Observatory captured the bright flash of the X-ray flare – the strongest since 2005, and rated on the scale for these flares as X8.7.

Bryan Brasher at the NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Centre in Boulder, Colorado, said it may turn out to have been even stronger when scientists gather data from other sources.

It follows nearly a week of flares and mass ejections of coronal plasma that threatened to disrupt power and communications on Earth and in orbit.

Nasa said the weekend geomagnetic storm caused one of its environmental satellites to rotate unexpectedly because of reduced altitude from the space weather, and go into a protective hibernation known as safe mode.

At the International Space Station, the seven astronauts were advised to stay in areas with strong radiation shielding, but the crew was never in any danger, according to Nasa.