Sun Unleashes Largest Solar Flare in Years

Sun Unleashes Largest Solar Flare in Years | Solar Flares & Sun Storms | Space Weather & Solar Cycle 24 | Space.com: "An extremely powerful solar flare, the largest in over four years, rocked the sun early Tuesday (Aug. 9), but is unlikely to wreak any serious havoc here on Earth, scientists say.

'It was a big flare,' said Joe Kunches, a space scientist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)'s Space Weather Prediction Center. 'We lucked out because the site of the eruption at the sun was not facing the Earth, so we will probably feel no ill effects.'"