Sunspot 1158

As it ramps up activity and heads toward Solar Max, the sun has emitted its most violent solar flare in four years, NASA is reporting.

The flare, which spewed from the sun on Monday night, is called a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME), and NASA says it's growing. It could hit Earth some time on Wednesday.

The flare is registered as a class X2.2 flare. There are three classes of solar flares, said. Class C flares are the smallest and have little or no effect on earth. Class M flares are medium-sized and they have the ability to cause radio blackouts in the earth's poles. The biggest flares are Class X; they can cause widespread blackouts and send radiation storms to the earth.

"It has been the largest flare since Dec. 6, 2006, so a long time coming," deputy project scientist for NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory Phil Chamberlin told "There were some clues that led us to believe the likelihood of moderate to large flares (M class or above) could occur, but we were all surprised when it actually happened to be a large X-class."

NASA recorded an M class CME just a day before. While still powerful, this category of blast is a bit weaker, said. Both flares came from what NASA calls sunspot 1158.

This violent solar weather confirms that the sun is in fact on track for Solar Max, its period of most intense activity.

"It just means that Solar Cycle 24 is just ramping up!" Chamberlin continued. "This is the first of probably many more X-class flare to occur over the next two to four years as we reach the peak and then descend back down from Solar Cycle 24 Maximum."

The sun goes through cycles of high activity and relative calm, rather than burning with consistent force. Observed for about two centuries, these CMEs are a hallmark of the point of highest activity. Storms on the sun can produce side effects on earth such as malfunctioning telecom and GPS satellite equipment. said that CMEs generally take about 24 hours to hit the earth and that "a huge cloud of charged particles is headed our way."

The sun's cycles last about 11 years on average. According to, the current cycle began about a year ago and is expected to reach Solar Max in 2013.
