link: Sun Unleashes Monster X-Class Solar Flare, Most Powerful Since 2017
Our star unleashed an X-class solar flare today (Dec. 14), blasting out an immense pulse of high-energy radiation that was captured on video by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory spacecraft. (Solar physicists classify strong flares into three categories, with C being the weakest, M the middling group and X the most potent.) The outburst, which occurred at 12:02 p.m. EST (1702 GMT), registered as an X2.8, making it the most powerful solar flare since September 2017, according to SpaceWeather.com.
Indeed, today's flare "caused a deep shortwave radio blackout over the Americas," SpaceWeather.com wrote.
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