The Sun recently erupted in a flare that caused a brief but intense radio blackout in the western US and the Pacific Ocean as it lashed Earth's upper atmosphere.
, an active sunspot region called AR 3354 unleashed an X-class solar flare – the most powerful category of which our Sun is capable.
Coming in at X1.0 , the flare ionized Earth's upper atmosphere, interfering with high-frequency radio signals on the side of EarthAs serious as it might sound, the impact on Earth was milder than it could have been as the flare died down without further incident. Astronomers saw no sign of athat commonly accompanies such events, which would have launched streams of plasma far into space.
The eruption was consistent with the upward trajectory of the current solar cycle, and suggests we have some rowdy months ahead as we head towards the impending 11-year peak of solar activity. According to the Royal Observatory of Belgium, sunspot counts have reached a 21-year high, with the average for JuneSunspot regions at time of writing. AR 3354 can be seen at the top right of the solar disk.
This sort of activity is pretty normal for the Sun. It goes through peaks and lows of activity, called solar maximum and solar minimum, every 11 years. It's not known entirely what drives these cycles, but we record it
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