In early November, a series of powerful X-class solar flares triggered coronal mass ejections that resulted in an astonishing auroral display for viewers as far south as Mexico. But for some solar scientists, the real excitement wasn't the northern lights — it was a series of high-definition images of the solar activity.

Using the GREGOR solar telescope at the Teide Observatory in Tenerife, Spain, researchers observed the emission of two X-class solar flares from the sunspots in active region NOAA 14274, one on Nov. 10 and another on Nov. 11. Capturing such events with a ground-based telescope is rare.

"Strong flares occur either on the backside of the sun, or during the night, or when the weather is cloudy, or when the seeing conditions are poor, or when they are just outside the field

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