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Space
Space
Science
Meredith Garofalo

Sun fires off X-class solar flare, increasing aurora viewing chances into weekend

A bright arc of light extends outward from the roiling surface of the sun.

A parade of solar activity continues to flow from the sun this week, opening up more chances to spot the aurora across the United States this weekend.

On Thursday morning (Sept. 12), a sunspot region that has not been numbered yet made its presence known blasting off a X1.3 class solar flare. X-class solar flares are the most powerful of their kind, and are typically followed by a full or partial loss of high frequency (HF) radio signals for sunlit locations on our planet. The energetic eruption, which peaked at 5:43 AM EDT (943 UTC), brought impacts earlier this morning with communication bands across Africa, Europe, and parts of Asia. 

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