NASA - Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) patch.
March 30, 2022
The Sun emitted a significant solar flare on March 30, 2022, peaking at 1:35 p.m. EST. NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, which watches the Sun constantly, captured an image of the event.
Animation above: NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory captured this image of a solar flare – as seen in the bright flash in the top right portion of the image – on March 30, 2022. The image shows a subset of extreme ultraviolet light that highlights the extremely hot material in flares and which is colorized in yellow (AIA 171).
Solar flares are powerful bursts of energy. Flares and solar eruptions can impact radio communications, electric power grids, navigation signals, and pose risks to spacecraft and astronauts.
This flare is classified as an X-Class flare. X-class denotes the most intense flares, while the number provides more information about its strength. An X2 is twice as intense as an X1, an X3 is three times as intense, etc. More info on how flares are classified can be found here: https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/phenomena/solar-flares-radio-blackouts.
Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO)
To see how such space weather may affect Earth, please visit NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center https://spaceweather.gov/, the U.S. government’s official source for space weather forecasts, watches, warnings, and alerts. NASA works as a research arm of the nation’s space weather effort. NASA observes the Sun and our space environment constantly with a fleet of spacecraft that study everything from the Sun’s activity to the solar atmosphere, and to the particles and magnetic fields in the space surrounding Earth.
Related links:
Space weather: https://www.nasa.gov/spaceweather
Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO): http://nasa.gov/sdo
Animation (mentioned), Image, Text, Credits: NASA/Denise Hill.
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