The flare peaked on Sunday, September 28, at 10:58 EDT

Sep 29, 2015 19:19 GMT  ·  By

Over the weekend, the Sun coughed out yet another flare. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory, launched in February 2010, was on alert, as per usual, and so managed to capture an image of the event.

The view, available below, was released by the space agency just yesterday. The flare, a mid-level one classified as an M7.6, is the bright flash visible in the lower right side of the Sun.

As detailed by NASA scientists, this latest flare observed by the Solar Dynamics Observatory on the surface of our parent star peaked on Sunday, September 28, at 10:58 EDT.

Astronomers describe solar flares as sudden and powerful bursts of radiation. Thanks to our planet's atmosphere, the harmful radiation that is released during such events cannot reach us here on Earth and, well, fry us.

Every once in a while, however, the Sun coughs out flares strong enough to shake up our planet's atmosphere. When this happens, GPS and communication signals are prone to glitches.

“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 and communications signals travel,” NASA scientists explain.

The most intense flares our Sun can emit, labeled X-class, are ten times as intense as the M-class one documented this past weekend. The figures accompanying the class such bursts of radiation are included in further detail their strength.

Thus, an M2 flare is twice as intense as an M1 event, an M3 flare is three times as intense, and so on.

Solar flare documented on Sunday, September 28
Solar flare documented on Sunday, September 28

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Artist's rendering of NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory
Solar flare documented on Sunday, September 28
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