Moderate Solar Flare Erupts From Sun

The Sun emitted a moderate solar flare on April 20, 2022, peaking at 9:59 p.m. ET. NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, which watches the Sun constantly, captured an image of the event.

Image of the Sun during a solar flare.
NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory captured this image of a solar flare – as seen in the bright flash in the upper left portion of the image– on April 20, 2022. The image shows a subset of extreme ultraviolet light that highlights the extremely hot material in flares, and which is colorized in yellow. Credit SDO/NASA

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 M-Class flare. M-class flares are a tenth the size of the most intense flares, the X-class flares. The number provides more information about its strength. More info on how flares are classified can be found here.

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.

Sun Releases Moderate and Strong Solar Flares

The Sun emitted two solar flares on April 19, 2022, one moderate peaking at 9:35 p.m. EST and one strong peaking at 11:57 p.m. EST. NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, which watches the Sun constantly, captured an image of both events.

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.

Image of the Sun capturing a mid-level solar flare.
NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory captured this image of a solar flare – as seen in the bright flash in the lower right portion of the image– at 9:35 p.m. EST on April 19, 2022. The image shows a subset of extreme ultraviolet light that highlights the extremely hot material in flares and is colorized in SDO channel color blue. Credit: NASA/SDO

The flare pictured above is classified as an M-Class flare. M-class flares are a class below the most intense flares, the X-class flares. The number provides more information about its strength. More info on how flares are classified can be found here.

Image of the Sun capturing a significant solar flare.
NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory captured this image of a solar flare – as seen in the bright flash in the lower right portion of the image– at 11:57 p.m. EST on April 19, 2022. The image shows a subset of extreme ultraviolet light that highlights the extremely hot material in flares and is colorized in SDO channel color blue. Credit NASA/SDO

The flare pictured above is classified as an X-Class flare. X-class denotes the most intense flares.

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.

Sun Releases Significant Solar Flare

The Sun emitted a significant solar flare on April 16, 2022, peaking at 11:34 p.m. EST. NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, which watches the Sun constantly, captured an image of the event.

Image of a significant solar flare captured by NASA's Solar Dynamic Observatory.
NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory captured this image of a solar flare – as seen in the bright flash in the upper left portion of the image– on April 16, 2022. The image shows a subset of extreme ultraviolet light that highlights the extremely hot material in flares, and which is colorized in SDO channel color AIA 304.

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.  More info on how flares are classified can be found here.

To see how 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.