Spectacular Solar Flare Erupts, May Cause Minor Disruption on Earth [PHOTO]

A medium-sized solar flare has erupted from the sun, observed by a NASA space observatory on Tuesday.

An unusual solar flare, a small radiation storm and a spectacular coronal mass ejection (CME) were emitted from a sunspot complex on the solar surface. A large cloud of charged magnetic particles mushroomed up and fell back down looking as if it covered an area of almost half the solar surface.

The firestorm of radiation was unleased on a level unseen since 2006. NASA provided photos and a video of the event, describing it as visually spectacular.

While the effects on earth are expected to remain small, it will deliver a glancing blow to the planet's magnetic field late June 8 or 9, NASA reported. The material blasting out from the sun is gas combined with a magnetic field, according to Bill Murtagh, program coordinator at the National Weather Service's Space Weather Prediction Center. Some of the material, he said, can impact the earth and create a geomagnetic storm causing some disruption in power grids, satellites and other devices. Some flights may be rerouted over the polar regions.