On April 17,2012 NASA's Solar
Dynamics Observatory Captured a massive Solar Flare ejecting from the surface of the sun. Luckily it
was not aimed in Earth's direction, and was probably not large enough to cause a global catastrophe but it
is yet another demonstration of the enormous power and energy harboured in our nearest star. You can watch the Video of the actual Solar Flare in HD below. The classification of the flare
was an M1.7