The sun fired off its largest solar flare yet in the current solar cycle. This means the Northeast could be entertained by northern lights.

The flare clocked in at X7.1 – the second most powerful flare of the current solar cycle, and one of the most powerful solar flares ever measured, sitting within the top 30 flares over the last 30 years.

The Sun just unleashed the most powerful flare we've seen in seven years. On October 3, a flare measured at a strength of X9.0 exploded right in the middle of the solar disk. Even more excitingly, it was accompanied by what is known as a halo coronal mass ejection – one that is ejected straight at Earth.