The sun has unleashed the most powerful solar flare since 2017, just days after it spat out another monster explosion. Both outbursts have launched solar storms that will likely hit Earth this weekend and trigger vibrant aurora displays.

Solar flares are currently rampant because the Sun is in the peak of its 11-year activity cycle, letting them off daily since early 2022. Most of the flares are smaller explosions, but we're definitely seeing an uptick in X-class flares, the most powerful category that we can measure.

Thursday’s flare was much smaller, reaching only X9 strength. It was, however, the strongest this year, beating out an X7.1 flare that erupted earlier this week and an X8.7 flare in May ( which Earth dodged ). The latter was considered the strongest since 2005 — a feat seemingly bested by Thursday’s activity.