Sun's Massive Flare Caught on NASA Camera, Solar Ejections Miss Earth

Sun emitted this year's most intense solar flare earlier this week. The coronal mass ejected after the flare would miss Earth, Space Weather Prediction Center has said.

NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory caught the flare on camera as it peaked on May 5 at 6.11 p.m. SDO classified it an X 2.7 class flare. Class X flares are the most intense and the numbers indicate relative strength.

"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," SDO said in a news release.

According to Space Weather Prediction Center, a strong radio blackout occurred during late hours of the same day but the storm did not hit Earth.

"We are expecting several active regions to be rotating onto the visible disk later this week and into the weekend. We have observed a few, energetic coronal mass ejections (CME) on the back side of the sun with these regions so we expect that overall solar activity will be on the rise in the short to medium term," the center said on the same day the flare peaked.

The center on Thursday said the mass ejections associated with the blackout event are expected to miss Earth.