Nasa is releasing a stunning clip of an X-class solar flare emanating from the ‘dramatic’ sun as it causes radio blackouts this week

NASA has unveiled stunning images of the most powerful type of solar flare emanating from the Sun on May 3rd.

It’s the second time this week that this type of powerful solar flare has been recorded, and the US space agency has called the sun’s recent activity “dramatic.”

Nasa tweeted a clip of the solar flare in action and wrote: “The sun emitted a powerful solar flare on May 3, 2022, which peaked at 9:25 am ET. NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory captured an image of the event that was classified as X Class.”

Torches are ordered by letter, with the largest marked as “X Class”. The smallest torches are “A Class”.

Space experts from SpaceWeather.com also spotted the large flare that eventually led to radio blackouts.

After observing a bursting sunspot, they wrote, “It announced itself today (May 3 @ 1325 UTUT) with an X1.1 class solar flare.”

“Radiation from the flare ionized the top of Earth’s atmosphere, causing severe shortwave radio blackout over the Atlantic and Europe.”

Sunspots are dark regions that appear on the sun in the burning mass due to magnetism.

They can explode, releasing solar flares of charged particles that can hit Earth’s magnetic field and cause storms that devastate our technology on Earth.

Nasa called the sun’s recent behavior “dramatic” in an Instagram post.

The space agency said: “Our sun has been a little busier over the past two weeks with five moderate to strong solar flares – sudden releases of magnetic energy.

“As of April 19, three of them have been classified as strong. The sun occasionally emits solar flares, although they don’t always affect people on Earth.

“When aimed at Earth, powerful flares can affect power grids, radio communications and navigation systems and pose a potential hazard to spacecraft and astronauts aboard the @ISS.

“NASA missions study flares to help us prepare for and better mitigate their effects.”

Fortunately, the Earth’s magnetic field protects people from many negative effects of solar flares.

Aside from messing up our power grid, satellites and radios, solar storms also produce very beautiful aurorae like the Northern Lights.