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This was the view as a multi-colored curtain of aurora formed to the south in my sky during the great display of Northern Lights on May 10, 2024. The Kp Index peaked at 8 this night bringing the aurora borealis and australis to wide areas of the planet including the tropics. This was from home in southern Alberta at latitude 51\u00b0 North, where the aurora filled the sky but, as here, was often best and brightest to the south. The colours come from oxygen, nitrogen and sunlight creating the shades of green, red, pink, and blue. This is a single 10-second exposure with the Laowa 15mm lens at f\/2.8 on the Canon Ra at ISO 1600. Processed through Adobe DeNoise AI. (Photo by: Alan Dyer\/VWPics\/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)<\/p>\n
VWPics\/Universal Images Group via Getty Images<\/p>\n
A massive X5.1-class solar flare \u2014 the strongest since Oct. 3, 2024, which caused global auroras \u2014 has been detected by the Earth-orbiting satellites.<\/p>\n
Nothing in 2025 has topped the X2.7 solar flare on May 14, making today’s solar flare the biggest of this year by a wide margin. <\/p>\n
It follows a week of X1-class solar flares as particularly active sunspots face Earth. It comes as a “cannibal CME” is expected to strike and interact with Earth’s atmosphere overnight on Tuesday<\/a>, Nov. 11, 2025.<\/p>\n The potent eruption could cause a geomagnetic storm at Earth in the next few nights, which could mean widespread displays of the northern lights. However, that will happen only if an Earth-directed coronal mass ejection \u2014 a cloud of charged particles \u2014 is hurled into space in its wake, with a CME\u2019s magnetic field to turning southward upon arrival. <\/p>\n ForbesIn Photos: See Jaw-Dropping Northern Lights Across Planet On Historic NightBy Jamie Carter<\/a>What Is A Solar Flare?<\/p>\n Solar flares are powerful bursts of energy that can impact radio communications, electric power grids, navigation signals, and pose risks to spacecraft and astronauts, according to NASA<\/a>.<\/p>\n An eruption of electromagnetic radiation in the sun\u2019s atmosphere, a solar flare is caused by twisted magnetic fields, typically above sunspots \u2014 cooler, darker regions of the sun\u2019s surface that form when clumps of its magnetic field well up from deep within the sun.<\/p>\n Solar Cycle 25\u2019s Most Powerful Solar Flares<\/p>\n Although an X5.1-class solar flare is relatively rare, there have been stronger events in the current solar cycle, according to NASA.<\/p>\n Oct. 3, 2024 \u2014 X9 (the strongest of solar cycle 25, which caused global auroras). May 5, 2024 \u2014 X8.7Oct. 1, 2024 \u2014 X7.1Feb. 22, 2024 \u2014 X6.3May. 11, 2024 \u2014 X5.9 (caused global auroras). <\/p>\n Solar flares are graded according to their severity, with B-class, followed by C, M and X, according to NASA<\/a>. Each letter represents a tenfold increase in energy output. The strongest ever solar flare detected was an estimated X28 on Nov. 4, 2003.<\/p>\n What Happened To \u2018Solar Maximum?\u2019<\/p>\n The sun is now thought to be over the peak of its 11-year solar cycle, with “solar maximum” thought to have occurred during October 2024 \u2014 the last time there was an X5-class solar flare.<\/p>\n