Watch: The Sun ejects most powerful solar flare since 2017

The strongest solar flare in nearly four years erupted from the Sun early on Saturday 3 July, and hit the Earth’s atmosphere some eight minutes later.

An explosion from an unnamed sunspot produced the X-class flare, the first of this type of activity to be seen in this sun cycle.

The blast of x-rays traveled towards the Earth at the speed of light, colliding with our atmosphere and causing a radio blackout over the Atlantic ocean and some nearby coastal regions.