The largest solar flare in six years occurred Thursday, causing some interruptions in radio communications on Earth for about two hours.
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NASA captured impressive images of the event, showing a large beam of light forming on the surface of the sun.
In a statement, the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration calls the eruption “likely one of the largest radio solar events on record.”
Radio outages caused by radiation emanating from this event were mainly felt between noon and 2 p.m. in South America, but were also noted in Mexico, the United States and southern Canada.
The eruption was rated X8 on the radiation scale, The Guardian reports.
For comparison, in 2003, the strongest eruption ever recorded was classified as X28.
See footage in the video above
