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The sun shot more than 10 powerful streams of energetic particles toward Earth on Tuesday, sparking warnings of radio outages.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) issued a warning Wednesday showing a 65 percent chance of disruption to radios, aviation communications and satellite operations this week.
NOAA reported radio outages in parts of the Pacific Ocean and other areas Wednesday morning.
NASA told the Daily Mail that Earth may receive more solar flares in the coming weeks.
Solar flares are defined as explosions of electromagnetic radiation emitted from sunspots, and there are about 12 sunspots currently active on the side of the sun facing Earth.
When solar flares erupt, they send radiation shooting away from the Sun's surface at the speed of light. Depending on where they're launched from, the radiation can end up on a collision course with Earth.
Powerful X- and M-type flares can cause communications disruptions on Earth. When they arrive, they electrically charge the upper atmosphere, which can cause radio outages.
"This is the time when the sunspots are expected to grow the most," Dean Pesnell, a scientist with NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory, told the Daily Mail. Even after the activity subsides this week, the sun will remain at solar maximum until 2025.
Over the past few days, scientists have been tracking radio outages around the world due to a period of intense solar activity.
The most powerful flares came from sunspot AR3738, a huge, dark region of strong magnetic fields on the Sun's surface.
Last Tuesday, AR3738 erupted an X-type flare, the strongest class of solar flare, causing severe radio blackouts over the Atlantic Ocean, but also across much of Africa, Europe, and parts of North and South America.
Solar activity remained high after the X flare, with a series of weaker M and C flares.
The chance of M flares occurring in the next 24 hours is about 70%, and the chance of X flares is about 25%, according to experts at EarthSky.org.
English (US)