Sun shoots out biggest solar flare in nearly a decade, but Earth should be safe this time

The sun isn't done yet. That's the message from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, as the biggest flare in nearly a decade erupted on the sun Tuesday. A NASA spacecraft photographed the bright flash of the X-ray flare, which was classified as a rare and extreme X8.7. It follows a weekend of severe solar storm activity caused by mass ejections of coronal plasma that slammed Earth. NOAA says Earth should be out of the line of fire this time. That's because this flare occurred on the limb of the sun.