Giant sunspot grew 10 times wider than Earth in just 48 hours, then spat X-class flare right at us

An unlimited, quickly rising sunspot on the solar’s floor has unleashed a mighty X-class flare — essentially the most highly effective sort of photo voltaic flare the solar is able to producing. The photo voltaic storm slammed into our planet, triggering temporary radio blackouts in elements of the U.S. and elsewhere, however it might have been loads worse, consultants warned.

The big darkish patch, named AR3354, emerged on the photo voltaic floor on June 27 and inside 48 hours had grown to cowl round 1.35 billion sq. miles (3.5 billion sq. kilometers), or 10 instances wider than Earth. Area climate scientists have been alarmed by the colossal sunspot’s speedy emergence and feared it might spit out a barrage of probably dangerous photo voltaic storms, in response to Spaceweather.com.