The sun’s new active region is responsible for dozens of eruptions known as solar flares, including a series of X-class flares earlier this week.

Solar flares typically originate from active regions of the sun marked by groups of sunspots, such as area 4366.

NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory had observed Region 4366 emitting multiple X-class flares, the most powerful category on the space weather scale. X-class flares are the most powerful type of solar flare, and the number following the “X” indicates the relative strength of the flare.

On Wednesday, Region 4366 exploded an X4.2 flare just hours after producing another powerful X1.5 flare. Earlier this week, the same sunspot region experienced one of the strongest flares of the year, the X8.1 event.

The flash from Wednesday’s X4.2 flare can be seen in the SDO image above as an intense burst of extreme ultraviolet light, highlighting superheated solar material in red and blue.

Since the region appeared on January 30, there have been 21 C-class flares, 38 M-class flares and six X-class flares, according to NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center.

“The Sun is putting on a pretty spectacular show right now,” said Emma Cain Ludden, an astrophysicist and president of Slooh. “This H-alpha image from the Northern Hemisphere Observatory in Thru at the Canary Islands Institute of Astrophysics (IAC) reveals filaments, prominences, and active regions, all signs of near solar maximum. When these features erupt, charged particles can be sent towards Earth, impacting satellites and producing aurora borealis.”

Cain Ruden added that the sunspot emitted a flare on Sunday, resulting in a coronal mass ejection that reached Earth’s atmosphere on Wednesday.

SWPC forecasters said they expect activity to continue in the area over the next few days. Further CMEs could trigger magnetic storms on Earth and enhance auroral displays.