Another intense solar flare fired off today

As Chicago grapples with intense heat over 100 degrees F this week, I wasn't surprised to read that the sun fired off yet another intense solar flare today, the latest in a series of storms being closely watched by space telescopes and astronomers. http://www.space.com/16449-active-sunspot-solar-flares-july-5.html

NASA photo

More info. on solar flares @ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_flare

"The chance of an X-flare today is increasing as sunspot AR1515 develops a 'beta-gamma-delta' magnetic field that harbors energy for the most powerful explosions," announced Spaceweather.com, a space weather tracking website run by astronomer Tony Phillips. "The sunspot itself is huge, stretching more than 100,000 km (8 Earth-diameters) from end to end." X-class solar flares are the strongest flares the sun can unleash. When aimed directly at Earth, X-class solar flares can endanger satellites and unshielded astronauts in space, interfere with GPS signals and communications, as well damage power system infrastructure on the ground. The sun is currently in the midst of an active phase of its 11-year solar weather cycle. The current cycle, known as Solar Cycle 24, is expected to peak in 2013.