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Space
Space
Science
Meredith Garofalo

Sun erupts with powerful X1.2 solar flare, causes radio blackouts (photo)

A white flare of light erupts from the leftmost edge of a green fuzzy blob.

The sun started 2025 with a bang as it fired off a powerful solar flare this morning.

The X-class solar flare peaked at an X.12 at 6:40 a.m. EST (1140 GMT) on Friday (Jan. 3), releasing a blast of energy from a sunspot region known as AR 3947 and triggering a radio blackout event for parts of the Southern Atlantic, Africa and parts of eastern South America. When these blackouts happen, they can result in a full or partial loss of high frequency (HF) radio signals in regions that are sunlit at the time.

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