Heart-Shaped Sunspot The Size Of Five Earths Erupts

First Posted: Apr 21, 2016 07:19 AM EDT

On April 17, a heart-shaped sunspot erupted with a strong solar flare, disrupting radio communications temporarily on Earth. Solar flares are extremely energetic bursts of radiation. The flare, which shot off at 8:29 EDT, came from the giant heart-shaped sunspot which is known as an active region (AR) 2529 and is big enough to fit nearly five Earths inside.

Sunspot spotted! Black spot on the sun changed its shape & size over the week: https://t.co/chURVeZKPk @NASASunEarth pic.twitter.com/cJiwtBqwxT

— NASA (@NASA) April 19, 2016

NASA was able to capture a video of the flare as it happened, thanks to the Solar Dynamics Observatory spacecraft. Discovery News reported that the eruption caused moderate radio blackouts, but have since been cleared up.

On the official classification scale used by scientists, the flare clocked in at M6.7, where M means flares that are of medium strength. Other classifications include C flares, which are the weakest, and X flares, which are the strongest. On the scale, M flares are 10 times stronger than C classifications. The m6 flare recorded is about six times more intense than an M1 event.

Sunspots -- the dark areas on the sun -- are considerably cooler than its surrounding regions. Here, solar flares and coronal mass ejections happen, the latter of which blasts gigantic clouds of solar plasma into space. If big enough while facing the planet, these CMEs can supercharge auroras or disrupt power grids on Earth, enough to cause blackouts.

NASA noted that scientists are still not sure what causes sunspots to erupt into solar flares, so they are studied to better understand their phenomenon. AR 2529 in particular has been an object of fascination lately. Officials noted that the sunspot has changed its shape and size over the past week and a half, and has become visible from the ground, even without magnification. Unfortunately, the viewing party has since been over - the sunspot rotated out of the earth's view by the end of April 20, 2016.