Month: July 2024

Sun Releases Strong Solar Flare

The Sun emitted a strong solar flare, peaking at 10:37 p.m. on July 28, 2024. NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, which watches the Sun constantly, captured an image of the event.

The Sun, shown in orange with dark splotches and bright yellow areas, against a black background. Toward the center of the star is a bright yellow area — the solar flare.
NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory captured this image of a solar flare — seen as the bright flash in the center – on July 28, 2024. The image shows a subset of extreme ultraviolet light that highlights the extremely hot material in flares and which is colorized in yellow and orange. Credit: NASA/SDO

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 X1.5 flare. X-class denotes the most intense flares, while the number provides more information about its strength.

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.

Strong Solar Flare Erupts From Sun

The Sun emitted a strong solar flare, peaking at 9:26 A.M. ET on July 16, 2024. NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, which watches the Sun constantly, captured an image of the event.

The Sun, shown in gold, against a black background. On the right is a bright white flash, on the limb of the star. The Sun has swirls of bright gold and darker gold regions, and one very large, dark black splotch toward the top.
NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory captured this image of a solar flare — seen as the bright flash on the right — on July 16, 2024. The image shows a subset of extreme ultraviolet light that highlights the extremely hot material in flares and which is colorized in gold. Credit: NASA/SDO

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 X1.9 flare. X-class denotes the most intense flares, while the number provides more information about its strength.

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 Strong Solar Flare

The Sun emitted a strong solar flare, peaking at 10:34 p.m. EDT on July 13, 2024. NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, which watches the Sun constantly, captured an image of the event.

The Sun, shown in teal against a black back ground. The Sun is a mix of darker, almost black areas and bright teal regions. On the right is an extremely bright flash of white.
NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory captured this image of a solar flare — seen as the bright flash on the right – on July 13, 2024. The image shows a subset of extreme ultraviolet light that highlights the extremely hot material in flares and which is colorized in teal. Credit: NASA/SDO

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 X1.2 class flare. X-class denotes the most intense flares, while the number provides more information about its strength.

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.