Massive solar flare captured on New Year’s Eve

(CNN)– 2023 ended with an incredible light show from space.

NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory captured images of a strong solar flare erupting from the sun that happened on Sunday afternoon.

The close image of the sun shows a mix of yellow, orange, brown and black colors.

Then a bright white flash appears on the left side of the photo.

Solar flares are powerful bursts of energy.

Flares and solar eruptions while beautiful can impact radio communications, electric power grids, navigation signals and even pose a risk to spacecraft and astronauts.