NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory has released dramatic video of a "mid-level" solar flare from April 2.
[youtube:http://youtu.be/_8yPQEE2Dnk]
Flares are short, powerful bursts of radiation emitted from the sun's surface.
NASA says the radiation cannot penetrate the Earth's atmosphere, but on rare occasions, the radiation can disrupt GPS and other communication technologies.
From the Observatory:
This flare is classified as an M6.5 flare. M-class flares are ten times less powerful than the most intense flares, which are labeled X-class. The number after the M provides more information about its strength. An M2 is twice as intense as an M1, an M3 is three times as intense.