Why the sun might look unusual this weekend

A sunspot region unleashed an X-class solar flare on Thursday (3 Oct), which are the most powerful and the biggest since 2017

Aurora enthusiasts might be in for a treat as the Sun has recently emitted a massive X-class flare. This powerful solar flare was unleashed from a sunspot region on Thursday (3 Oct), and was captured by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory, which constantly monitors the Sun.

Such strong solar flares can lead to coronal mass ejections (CME); these are explosions of plasma and magnetic field that can trigger geomagnetic storms if they are directed towards Earth. The CME from this recent flare is predicted to reach Earth anytime until Saturday, potentially resulting in widespread auroras.

NASA explains: "Solar flares are powerful bursts of radiation. Harmful radiation from a flare cannot pass through Earth's atmosphere to physically affect humans on the ground. However - when intense enough - they can disturb the atmosphere in the layer where GPS & communications signals travel."

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These spectacular aurora displays occur when the Earth's magnetosphere is disturbed by the solar wind.

However, while these storms can create beautiful auroras, they can also interfere with navigation systems, radio communications and impact the power grid.

The Sun's activity was observed by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) spacecraft. Its mission is to study the Sun's dynamics to "increase understanding of the nature and sources of solar variability".

The SDO documents the outer atmosphere of the Sun - known as the corona - as well as hot flare plasma.