On 1 February 2026 the Sun released an X8.3 flare, the most powerful so far this year. Solar flares are abrupt energy bursts caused by shifts in the Sun's magnetic field and are graded A, B, C, M and X, X being strongest. The flare, from the unstable sunspot group Region 4366, disrupted radio signals over parts of the South Pacific, eastern Australia and New Zealand. Separately, NASA's SPHEREx telescope detected methanol, methane and cyanide in interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS.