NASA SDO Video: Massive Solar Flare

This huge solar flare certainly lives up to its name. It's called the Monster Prominence, and was filmed by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory when it exploded on 24 February. The magnetic eruption has been sped up here (see video) but in reality it twisted and flared for 90 minutes.

It's not the largest flare ever recorded on the sun, and luckily it was facing away from the Earth's surface, says news channel CNN so it won't disrupt satellites or radio communications.

Last week, Jane Lubchenco, chief of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, warned of the potential disruption of solar activity to power grids and networks.

To find out more about solar flares, check out this recent video and blog post about how seemingly independent solar flares are connected.