Sun ID: 10888

Solar Fury

Story by Karen Fox Released on February 21, 2012

On January 22, 2012, the sun erupted with a solar flare, a coronal mass ejection, and a burst of highly energetic protons known as solar energetic particles. The solar flare was only medium in size. But the other two events packed quite a punch creating the most intense solar radiation storm since 2003. Within minutes of the eruption, solar particles swirled into the Earth's magnetosphere—the protective envelope that shields our planet from the sun's powerful rays. Dazzling auroras electrified the night sky as the coronal mass ejection raced behind the flare at almost 1,400 miles per second and hit Earth within 36 hours. For three days the storm degraded radio transmissions at high latitudes, forcing some airplanes flying polar routes—where pilots rely exclusively on radio navigation—to be rerouted. Watch the video below for multiple views of the eruption as captured by sun-observing satellites.

The coronal mass ejection sprays solar particles, as seen in this sequence captured by the NASA/ESA Solar and Heliospheric Observatory.

An astronaut aboard the International Space Station captured this photo of auroras glowing above the Midwest on Jan. 25, 2012.

For More Information

NASA.gov

Story Credits

Video Editor:
Kayvon Sharghi (USRA)

Producers:
Scott Wiessinger (USRA)
Genna Duberstein (USRA)

Lead Writer:
Karen Fox (ADNET Systems, Inc.)

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

Short URL to share this page:
https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/10888

Keywords:
SVS >> App
NASA Science >> Sun