A moderate solar flare was unleashed by the sun Monday, and NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) captured an image of the stunning event.
Classified as a mid-level solar flare, it peaked at 10:58 a.m. EDT on Monday morning, according to NASA. It was an M7.6 flare, which is more than seven times as strong as an M1 flare. M-class flares are only 10 percent as strong as X-class flares, NASA said, but they still rank on the higher end of moderate flares.
"The moderate eruption is unlikely to cause space weather strong enough to affect Earth, but scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Space Weather Prediction Center will nonetheless monitor the after-effects of the flare," said UPI.com in its report.
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Scientists do not believe this solar flare is strong enough to turn loose a coronal mass ejection, where gas violently erupts from the sun and eventually hits Earth, according to Space.com. The flare did, however, lead to interference with low-frequency radio communications in South America and over the Atlantic Ocean, and there's a possibility of additional flares in the coming days, the report added.
While a solar flare cannot harm humans on Earth, the larger ones are capable of wreaking havoc on forms of technology and communication. An intense flare could affect the power grid as well as satellite communications, GPS or otherwise, UPI.com added.
The SDO is a relatively young branch of NASA; it was opened in 2010 to help scientists closer study the sun's electromagnetic patterns and how these flares affect us, UPI.com also said.
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