Sun  ID: 11717

Second Substantial Flare in Two Days

Released on October 22, 2014
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An active region on the sun erupted with a mid-level flare on Oct. 21, 2014, as seen in the bright light of this image captured by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory. This image shows extreme ultraviolet light that highlights the hot solar material in the sun's atmosphere.

Credit: NASA/GSFC/SDO

The sun emitted a mid-level solar flare, peaking at 9:59 p.m. EDT on Oct. 21, 2014. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory, which is always observing the sun, captured an image of the event. The same active region previously emitted an X1.1 solar flare on Oct. 19. Solar flares are powerful bursts of radiation. Harmful radiation from a flare cannot pass through Earth's atmosphere to physically affect humans on the ground, however -- when intense enough -- they can disturb the atmosphere in the layer where GPS and communications signals travel.


This flare is classified as an M 8.7-class flare.

M-class denotes flares that are a tenth as strong as X-class flares, which are the most intense flares. The number provides more information about its strength. An M2 is twice as intense as an M1, an M3 is three times as intense, etc.
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An active region on the sun erupted with a mid-level flare on Oct. 21, 2014, as seen in the bright light of this image captured by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory. This image shows extreme ultraviolet light that highlights the hot solar material in the sun's atmosphere. Shown here with the Earth to scale.

Credit: NASA/GSFC/SDO

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An active region on the sun erupted with a mid-level flare on Oct. 21, 2014, as seen in the bright light of this image captured by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory. This image shows extreme ultraviolet light that highlights the hot solar material in the sun's atmosphere.

Credit: NASA/GSFC/SDO

Download Options
An active region on the sun erupted with a mid-level flare on Oct. 21, 2014, as seen in the bright light of this image captured by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory. This image shows extreme ultraviolet light that highlights the hot solar material in the sun's atmosphere.

Credit: NASA/GSFC/SDO

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SDO AIA image of the M8.7 flare in 171 angstrom light from 2:09 UT on October 22, 2014.

Credit:NASA/SDO

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SDO AIA image of the M8.7 flare in 304 angstrom light from 2:09 UT on October 22, 2014.

Credit:NASA/SDO

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SDO AIA image of the M8.7 flare in 131 angstrom light from 2:09 UT on October 22, 2014.

Credit:NASA/SDO

 

Related

Giant Sunspot Continues to Erupt with Substantial Flares

Credits

Scott Wiessinger (USRA): Producer
Genna Duberstein (USRA): Producer
Aaron E. Lepsch (ADNET Systems, Inc.): Project Support
Karen Fox (ADNET Systems, Inc.): Writer
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. However, individual images should be credited as indicated above.

Short URL to share this page:
https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/11717

Mission:
SDO

This item is part of this series:
Heliophysics Breaking News

Goddard TV Tape:
G2014-015 -- 2014 Heliophysics Breaking News

Keywords:
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Sun-earth Interactions >> Solar Activity >> Solar Flares
GCMD >> Earth Science >> Sun-earth Interactions >> Solar Activity >> Solar Ultraviolet
SVS >> SDO
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