A NASA telescope has captured the biggest solar flare in years.
The Sun spat out the huge flare along with a massive radio burst on Thursday, causing two hours of radio interference in parts of the US and other sunlit parts of the world.
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Every 11 years dark spots appear on the surface of the sun which are caused by changes to its magnetic field. A by-product of the phenomena - known as solar maximum - are explosions of energy fired at our planet home which cause solar storms which are powerful enough to disrupt life on the surface. A new study has shown the next solar maximum is likely to hit at some point in 2024 - bringing with it potentially dire consequences for us all.
Dr Dibyendu Nandi, a physicist from the IISER Kolkata Center of Excellence in Space Sciences in India, told MailOnline: “The most intense storms can sometimes result in catastrophic orbital decay of low Earth orbiting satellites and disrupt satellite based services such as communications and navigational networks. They can also induce strong disturbances in the geomagnetic field tripping electric power grids located in high latitude regions. Of course, they also create beautiful auroras so we can expect 2024 to be a good year for aurora hunters. The sun’s dipole field waxes and wanes roughly in antiphase with the sunspot cycle. During solar cycle minimum, when almost no sunspots are observed on the sun, the dipole field strength is maximum.”
Last year the sun spat out a huge solar flare and caused a freak solar event which caused a radio blackout on Earth.
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Take note butterscotch…
Earth to be hit by solar storms with flares so strong they could cripple global internet
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Mother nature reminding us feeble hu-mans how powerful it is, our precarious existence on the third rock fragile. 
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