See our Sun's angriest day

The sun has erupted with an X1.7-class and an X2.8-class flare, as well as two coronal mass ejections off the upper left side with solar material also blowing off the surface in what’s called a prominence eruption. Courtesy NASA

THE SUN unleashed its largest flare for the year on Mother's Day - and a bevvy of cameras have captured it.

On May 12 the first in a series of flares lept from the sun, to be followed 24 hours later by the most powerful blast this year.

On the flare scale, this one registers X2.8. X-class flares are the most powerful solar storms, with M-class in the middle and C-class the weakest.

The stream of charged particles and plasma was not directed at Earth, but did have noticeable side-effects. High-frequency radios were blacked out for more than an hour over the weekend, according to the Space Weather Prediction Center.

If the flare had been directed at the Earth, it could have posed a threat to satellites and communications infrastructure - as well as expose inhabitants of the International Space Station to a radiation storm.

The flares were observed by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory which monitors the sun from Earth orbit.

The sun's solar flare activity follows an 11-year cycle of activity and quiessence. The current active state is expected to peak later this year.

This blend of two images taken by NASAs Solar Dynamics Observatory shows a solar eruption that occurred on May 12, 2013. One image shows light in the 171-angstrom wavelength, the other in 131 angstroms. Scientists say the Mothers Day solar flare was the strongest of the year and occurred on the side of the sun that faced away from Earth. Photo/NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory

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