Strong X-Flare Erupts from Sun | NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory

Strong X-Flare Erupts from Sun | NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory

The Sun emitted a strong solar flare, peaking at 7:28 a.m. ET on June 3, 2026. NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) watches the Sun constantly and captured an image of the event.

NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory captured this image of a solar flare—visible as the bright flash toward the upper right—on June 3, 2026. The image shows a subset of extreme ultraviolet light that highlights the extremely hot material in flares and is colorized in red.

Solar flares are powerful bursts of energy. Flares and solar eruptions can impact radio communications, electric power grids, navigation signals, and pose risks to spacecraft and astronauts.

This flare is classified as an X1.0 flare. X-class denotes the most intense flares, while the number provides more information about its strength.

The largest X-class flares are by far the largest explosions in our solar system. NASA states:

"Made visible to us by sun-observing satellites, solar flares involve loops of solar material, called plasma, that leap off the sun’s surface and expand to ten times the size of Earth. Powerful flares can produce as much energy as a billion hydrogen bombs."

The frequency of solar flares waxes and wanes in an 11-year cycle.

Image Description: The Sun, shown against the black backdrop of space. The Sun is colorized in red, with dark freckles spotting it and brighter, more orange areas representing active regions. Toward the upper right, there is a bright white region, showing a flash shaped like an X. This is the solar flare.

To see how such space weather may affect Earth, please visit NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center https://spaceweather.gov/, the U.S. government’s official source for space weather forecasts, watches, warnings, and alerts.

NASA works as a research arm of the nation’s space weather effort. NASA observes the Sun and our space environment constantly with a fleet of spacecraft that study everything from the Sun’s activity to the solar atmosphere, and to the particles and magnetic fields in the space surrounding Earth.

Image Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
Date: June 3, 2026

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