A colossal solar flare , deemed the second-strongest of the year so far, led to a communications blackout over several parts of the Pacific , including Hawaii on Wednesday.
The strong X7 category flare erupted from a fast-growing sunspot labelled AR3842 on Monday, releasing powerful charged particles that headed towards Earth.
The eruption from the Sun caused a temporary radio blackout over Hawaii, according to SpaceWeather.com.
“An X7.1 (R3) solar flare erupted from Region 3842 this evening. This was the second strongest flare of Solar Cycle 25, only bested by an X8.7 flare on May 14th of this year,” the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said in a post on X.
Flares happen when the Sun’s magnetic field snaps and reconnects, often around sunspots, causing particles to be flung around into space like a massive catapult.
Solar flares are categorised by strength with the smallest ones labelled B-class, followed by C, M and X being the largest. Within each class, there is a finer scale represented by numbers usually from 1 to 9.