Sun unleashes powerful flare as it reaches its ‘maximum’

The Sun has thrown out a powerful solar flare – and there is probably more to come.

Our star is currently at the “solar maximum”, the most active part of the 11-year cycle over which it becomes more and less active. As such, it is regularly releasing solar flares.

Those flares can disrupt communications and infrastructure on Earth, as well as giving us beautiful aurorae as they collide with Earth’s atmosphere.

The latest flare is an X1.1 flare – marking a rare and powerful kind of blast.

X is the most powerful class of solar flare. The number following it represents the strength, however, and 1.1 is relatively low – last month, for instance, the Sun released an X1.8 and an X2 flare.

The region from which the flare came is currently rotating towards Earth. That means there could be more activity in the coming week, if the Sun is to send out more flares towards us.