The sun has spewed out another magnificent solar flare, shown in a video released by Nasa.

The spectacular display of magnetic plasma, shown in the video above, looks impressive, but Nasa says it's a moderate ejection that will pose no great threat to Earth.

Nasa alerted space fans to the new footage via the organisation's Twitter feed, @NASA_SDO. The tweet labelled the event an M1.7 class solar flare.

Solar flares are measured by their strength, and the strongest are classed as either C, M or X, meaning this was square in the middle of flare strength.

Solar flares occur regularly, and the sun is currently in an active phase of its 11-year weather cycle, which is expected to reach its peak activity in 2013.

Solar flares can pose a threat to Earth, by disrupting communications, damaging power networks and harming satellites. The biggest solar storm in the current season occurred in March, and while damage was expected, the crisis never unfolded.

The upshot of solar flares is, they also cause magnificent displays of the northern lights, or aurora borealis, which were on show in Iceland this winter.

Check out amazing photos and video of solar flares below.

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