On Christmas Day, the sun unleashed four solar flares within three hours, with the strongest reaching M7.3 intensity.

These flares originated from sunspot regions AR3938, AR3933, and AR3936, creating a rare phenomenon known as sympathetic solar flares, where explosions from different sunspots occur almost simultaneously due to interconnected magnetic loops.

While a coronal mass ejection (CME) from the M7.3 flare is expected to miss Earth, scientists suggest the sun will remain active, potentially bringing auroras before New Year’s Eve, Space.com has reported.

Written by B.C. Begley