The largest solar flare of Cycle 24 just took place at 08:05 UTC and it registered a whopping X6.9. The source was Sunspot 1263 which is nearing the Western Limb. Because of its location, any large explosions may not be fully earth directed. When watching new video images from the STEREO website, it appears the CME (although bright), is less intense than the one caused by the M9.3 flare from last week. A minor S1 Radiation Storm is in progress. Stay tuned to SolarHam.com for the most up to date solar information on the internet. UPDATE: The latest Lasco C2 movie shows the Coronal Mass Ejection caused by the X6.9 Solar Flare. It looks like a majority of the blast is not earth directed and at the same time you can see Protons racing past the onboard satellite camera.