Sun  ID: 11047

AR1520's Parting Shot: July 19, 2012 M7.7 Flare

Released on July 19, 2012
The sun emitted a moderate solar flare on July 19, 2012, beginning at 1:13 AM EDT and peaking at 1:58 AM. Solar flares are gigantic bursts of radiation that cannot pass through Earth's atmosphere to harm humans on the ground, however, when strong enough, they can disrupt the atmosphere and degrade GPS and communications signals.

The flare is classified as an M7.7 flare. This means it is weaker than the largest flares, which are classified as X-class. M-class flares can cause brief radio communications blackouts at the poles.

Increased numbers of flares are currently quite common, since the sun's standard 11-year activity cycle is ramping up toward solar maximum, which is expected in 2013. It is quite normal for there to be many flares a day during the sun's peak activity.

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Video showing the flare in 304 and 335 angstrom light. Still showing the flare in 304, 131 and 335 angstrom light.
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Cropped image of the flare in 304 angstrom ultraviolet
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Full disk 4k image of the flare in 304 angstrom ultraviolet
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Cropped image of the flare in 131 angstrom ultraviolet
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Full disk 4k image of the flare in 131 angstrom ultraviolet
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Full disk 4k image of the flare in 335 angstrom ultraviolet
 

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Credits

Scott Wiessinger (USRA): Video Editor
Scott Wiessinger (USRA): Producer
Karen Fox (ADNET Systems, Inc.): Writer
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center

Short URL to share this page:
https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/11047

Mission:
SDO

This item is part of this series:
Heliophysics Breaking News

Goddard TV Tape:
G2012-048 -- Heliophysics Breaking News 2012 collection

Keywords:
SVS >> HDTV
SVS >> Music
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Sun-earth Interactions
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Sun-earth Interactions >> Solar Activity >> Solar Flares
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Sun-earth Interactions >> Solar Activity >> Solar Ultraviolet
SVS >> Space Weather
SVS >> SDO
SVS >> Edited Feature
SVS >> Solar Dynamics Observatory
SVS >> Heliophysics
SVS >> Corona
NASA Science >> Sun

GCMD keywords can be found on the Internet with the following citation: Olsen, L.M., G. Major, K. Shein, J. Scialdone, S. Ritz, T. Stevens, M. Morahan, A. Aleman, R. Vogel, S. Leicester, H. Weir, M. Meaux, S. Grebas, C.Solomon, M. Holland, T. Northcutt, R. A. Restrepo, R. Bilodeau, 2013. NASA/Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) Earth Science Keywords. Version 8.0.0.0.0