Powerful solar flare erupts from sun triggering radio blackouts across North America (video)

Satellite view of the sun erupting with the M8.46 class solar flare. There is an insert on the right of the image showing a close up view of the flaring region.

An Earth-facing sunspot has turned into a prolific flare factory, firing off multiple powerful M-class solar flares in less than 24 hours, along with several minor C-class eruptions.

The most intense of these solar flares erupted on June 15, peaking at 2:25 p.m. EDT (1825 GMT) and registering as an M8.46-class — just shy of the X-class category, the most powerful type of solar flare. This eruption also unleashed a coronal mass ejection (CME) — a massive plume of solar plasma and magnetic field — now partially headed toward Earth. Forecasts suggest the CME's flank could strike on June 18, according to Spaceweather.com.