JUNE 7, 2011 Solar Flare.

Solar flare sparks biggest eruption ever seen on the Sun.

 June 7, 2011- Enormous ejection of particles into space shocks scientists. A mushroom of cooled plasma popped and rained onto the surface of the Sun. What shocked scientists was the unusual amount of material that lofted up, expanded, and fell back down over roughly half the surface area of the Sun. The sun's 11-year cycle of activity, driven by tangled surface magnetic fields, will hit its maximum in late 2013 or early 2014. Magnetic messiness will peak around that time and prompt nasty solar storms.
"We'll probably see [extreme] flares every couple of months instead of years."