MIAMI (CBSMiami) — The sun put on quite a celestial show Tuesday as it unleashed two solar flares and NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory caught them both on camera.
In a photo from NASA, there is a brilliant burst of light along the left edge of the sun’s surface.
NASA says they’re bursts of radiation from the sun.
The short-lived explosions were expected to disrupt high-frequency radio communications on Earth, although NASA scientists said they pose no threat to humans. Even with all its power, the sun doesn’t have enough energy to hurl a fireball 93 million miles at the Earth.
Solar flares are powerful bursts of radiation that send gases, plasma and other matter into the solar system. Harmful radiation from a flare cannot pass through Earth’s atmosphere to affect humans, but when intense enough, the explosions can disturb GPS and communications signals, NASA said.