A spectacular solar flare erupted from the Sun's northeastern limb yesterday, sending an beautiful arcing jet of super-heated plasma blasting off into space.

The explosion, captured by Nasa's Solar Dynamics Observatory at about 5.45pm yesterday evening, was one of the most beautiful seen in years.

It measured at just a moderate M1 on the scale of sun storms, which placed it in the middle of the scale scientists use to measure flare strength.
 

Nevertheless, its location - shooting off from the sun's left side - allowed Nasa to capture this remarkable footage of the flare from the SDO spacecraft.

'Great eruption happening on the sun now,' Nasa scientists wrote in a Twitter post.

The spectacular flare erupted from an active region of the sun which may also be responsible for solar storm activity seen on Sunday, officials from the agency told Space.com.