New Delhi, India

A massive massive solar flare erupted last night from a giant unstable sunspot, which caused radio blackouts on Earth and sent a hot plasma plume through the sun's atmosphere at speeds of 400 km/s, Space.com reported. 

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A solar flare is a brief eruption of intense high-energy radiation from the sun's surface. It is associated with sunspots and leads to radio and magnetic disturbances on the Earth. 

The report mentioned that solar physicist Keith Strong posted details about the eruption on X, stating that the long-duration solar flare from the sunspot region AR3575 began on Monday (Feb 5) at 8:30 pm EST (0130 GMT on Feb 6). He said that it peaked at 10:15 EST (0315 GMT on Feb 6). 

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The eruption also caused coronal mass ejections (CME), which according to NASA are huge bubbles of coronal plasma threaded by intense magnetic field lines which are ejected from the Sun. 

The CME can produce a geomagnetic storm, which can lead to anomalies and disruptions on Earth, especially to the modern conveniences the world relies on. 

On one side geomagnetic storms cause magnificent auroras - a delight to sky-watchers, on the other hand, they cause disturbances to the Earth-orbiting satellites. 

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While commenting on the CME, Strong said in the post that the region where the solar flare generated is a "long way south" of the Sun, hence, it could pass under Earth.

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Space.com report stated that the M-flare produced widespread radio blackouts due to the intense pulse of X-rays and high ultraviolet radiation pacing towards Earth. 

The radiation arrived on Earth in just over eight minutes and ionised the upper layer of the atmosphere causing shortwave radio blackouts in the sun-lit region of the planet at the time. 

According to Spaceweather.com, Australia and Southeast Asia experienced shortwave blackouts. Ham radio operators and mariners in the area might have suffered a loss of signal at frequencies below 30 MHz for around an hour. 

(With inputs from agencies)