NASA - Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) patch.
August 25, 2014
Image above: A bright solar flare can be seen on the left side of the sun in this image captured by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory on Aug. 24, 2014.
Image Credit: NASA/SDO.
On Aug. 24, 2014, the sun emitted a mid-level solar flare, peaking at 8:16 a.m. EDT. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory captured images of the flare, which erupted on the left side of the sun. Solar flares are powerful bursts of radiation. Harmful radiation from a flare cannot pass through Earth's atmosphere to physically affect humans on the ground, however -- when intense enough -- they can disturb the atmosphere in the layer where GPS and communications signals travel.
To see how this event may affect Earth, please visit NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center at http://spaceweather.gov, the U.S. government's official source for space weather forecasts, alerts, watches and warnings.
This flare is classified as an M5 flare. M-class flares are ten times less powerful than the most intense flares, called X-class flares.
Image above: This close-up of a moderate flare on Aug. 24, 2014, shows light in the 131 and 171 Angstrom wavelengths. The former wavelength, usually colorized in teal, highlights the extremely hot material of a flare. The latter, usually colorized in gold, highlights magnet loops in the sun's atmosphere. Image Credit: NASA/SDO.
Magnetic Connections
Video above: Magnetic field lines arched and twisted above a small group of active regions and even reached out to connect to each other (Aug. 18-20, 2014). The field lines are revealed in extreme ultraviolet light by charged particles that spiral along them. Sometimes the forces are strong enough to cause an active region to reach out and connect with other active regions, as was the case here. This is most clearly seen between the two topmost regions. Credit: Solar Dynamics Observatory/NASA.
For more views and an animation of this event, visit our Scientific Visualization Studio page: http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/goto?11629
For more information about Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), visit: http://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/ and https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sdo/main/
Updates will be provided as needed.
Images (mentioned), Video (mentioned), Text, Credits: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center / Karen C. Fox.
Cheers, Orbiter.ch
