MOSCOW, January 3. /TASS/. The Sun emitted a very intense solar flare in the small hours on January 1, a Moscow-based research institute reported.

According to the Heliophysics service of the Institute of Applied Geophysics, at 0:55 a.m. on Monday researchers registered a X5.0/3B class solar flare that lasted 32 minutes.

"The solar flare was emitted releasing a coronal mass ejection (CME) toward the Earth. A disturbance (a geomagnetic storm - TASS) from the CME is expected" to impact the Earth’s magnetic field on January 3, the research institute said in a statement.

X-class denotes the most intense solar flares.