Sun Releases Massive X-Class Solar Flare: Report

NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) captured an image of a mid-level solar flare on March 11, 2015, seen as a bright flash of light close to the center of the solar disk.

The strongest monster X-class solar flare, which has been categorized as a sun storm, peaked at 12:22 EDT on Wednesday. It originated from a sunspot that is known as the Active 12297 Region. The Solar Dynamics Observatory of NASA was able to capture its video, the Space revealed.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said with regard to Wednesday's storm:

"An R3 (Strong) Radio Blackout peaked at 1622 UTC (12:22pm EDT) today, March 11. This is yet another significant solar flare from Active Region 12297 as it marches across the solar disk. This is the largest flare the region has produced so far, after producing a slew of R1 (Minor) and R2 (Moderate) Radio Blackouts over the past few days."

The solar flare on Wednesday was a X2.2-class flare. According to NASA, these flares are the most severe.

"The biggest flares are known as 'X-class flares' based on a classification system that divides solar flares according to their strength. The smallest ones are A-class (near background levels), followed by B, C, M and X."

The first significant solar flare eruption is classified as X2.2-class, a term used to describe how powerful a solar flare is.

For this latest event, NASA said it is more than twice as intense as an X1, but weaker than X3. Back in December, a huge solar flare classified as X1.8-class was recorded by the same observatory six days before Christmas. NASA said the last major eruption of 2014 came from an active region called 2242.

"Harmful radiation from a flare cannot pass through Earth's atmosphere to physically affect humans on the ground, however - when intense enough - they can disturb the atmosphere in the layer where GPS and communications signals travel," says NASA in a statement.