NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory Captures Images of Two Fantastic Solar Flares
Solar flares are sudden flashes of brightness that are observed close to the Sun’s surface. They are hard to capture on camera as happen at random times. When the sun is particularly active, solar flares can happen several times a day.
Solar flares are sudden flashes of brightness that are observed close to the Sun’s surface. They are hard to capture on camera as happen at random times. When the sun is particularly active, solar flares can happen several times a day. But in quiet periods there may be as little as one a week. However, this month, with thanks to NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), not one but two significant solar flares have been captured on camera.
The first one to be imaged peaked at 5:10 am EDT in the morning of September 6th, 2017, with the second happening just a few hours later at 8:02 am EDT. NASA’s SDO is constantly keeping a watchful lens on the sun, and so luckily managed to capture both spectacular events. Radiation that’s emitted from solar flares can be harmful enough to disturb the atmosphere where GPS and other communications travel, but thankfully it’s not strong enough to pass through our planet’s tough atmosphere to do any real harm to ourselves.
Flare one was classified by experts as being an X2.2 flare, whereas the second was an X9.3 flare. The X-class is the class used to describe the most intense flares and the number represents its strength. Both these flares are said to have come from a region called AR 2673 where another solar flare was produced just a few days earlier, on September 4th, 2017.
The current solar cycle began in December 2008 and is expected to last approximately 11 years. So far the X9.3 flare is the largest in this cycle, and experts are fairly confident there will be none bigger as the cycle is now decreasing in intensity as it comes to its end. For information on how these flares could affect the Earth check out NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center. It’s the official channel for getting real information regarding space weather alerts, warnings, and more.
Credits: NASA
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Helena Marsh
Helena Marsh is the Editor-in-Chief at TrendinTech, where she leads editorial strategy and oversees coverage across artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and enterprise technology. With more than a decade in technology journalism on both sides of the Atlantic, she previously served as a senior editor at Wired UK and covered the technology sector for The Guardian, following the rise of the big platforms, the Cambridge Analytica scandal and the regulatory push from Brussels and Washington. Helena holds an MA in Journalism from City, University of London and is a regular speaker at Web Summit in Lisbon and CES in Las Vegas. She believes technology reporting should be rigorous and plainly written, so readers understand what actually changes for them rather than what a company's announcement promises.
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