Sun  ID: 11651

September 10, 2014 X1.6 flare

Released on September 11, 2014
The sun emitted a significant solar flare, peaking at 1:48 p.m. EDT on Sept. 10, 2014. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory captured images of the event. 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 X1.6 class flare. "X-class" denotes the most intense flares, while the number provides more information about its strength. An X2 is twice as intense as an X1, an X3 is three times as intense, etc.
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An X1.6 class solar flare flashes in the middle of the sun on Sept. 10, 2014.

Credit: NASA/Goddard/SDO

Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.

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An X1.6 class solar flare flashes in the middle of the sun on Sept. 10, 2014. This image was captured by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory and shows light in the 131 angstrom wavelength, which is typically colorized in teal.

Credit: NASA/SDO

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An X1.6 class solar flare flashes in the middle of the sun on Sept. 10, 2014. This image was captured by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory and shows a blend of light from the 171 and 304 angstrom wavelengths.

Credit: NASA/GSFC/SDO

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An X1.6 class solar flare flashes in the middle of the sun on Sept. 10, 2014. This image was captured by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory and shows a blend of light from the 171 and 304 angstrom wavelengths.

Credit: NASA/GSFC/SDO

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An X1.6 class solar flare flashes in the middle of the sun on Sept. 10, 2014. This image was captured by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory and shows a blend of light from the 171 and 304 angstrom wavelengths.

Credit: NASA/GSFC/SDO

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The CME associated with the September 10, 2014 X1.6 flare is visible in this image from the SOHO spacecraft's LASCO C2 coronagraph.

Credit: ESA/NASA/SOHO

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The CME associated with the September 10, 2014 X1.6 flare is visible in this image from the SOHO spacecraft's LASCO C3 coronagraph.

Credit: ESA/NASA/SOHO

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Two views of an X-class solar flare on Sept. 10, 2014. IRIS focuses on the lower regions of the sun's atmosphere, while the SDO imagery shows a region that is hotter and typically slightly above that. Credit: NASA/LMSAL/Wiessinger
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Two views of an X-class solar flare on Sept. 10, 2014. IRIS focuses on the lower regions of the sun's atmosphere, while the SDO imagery shows a region that is hotter and typically slightly above that. This version shows the IRIS imagery overlaid on SDO. Credit: NASA/LMSAL/Wiessinger
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This movie shows IRIS imagery focused in on material at around 60,000 Kelvin (107,500 F), which highlights a low level of the sun's atmosphere, called the transition region.

IRIS clearly shows a dark sunspot in the upper right, a magnetically complex region observed on the sun's surface. As the flare begins, crisp bright lines show up moving across the IRIS data, showing where material begins to be heated with the onset of the flare.

Credit: NASA/LMSAL

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Frame sequence of the flare in 171 angstrom light. The frames and video have a resolution of 4096x4096.

Credit: NASA/SDO

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Frame sequence of the flare in 131 angstrom light. The frames and video have a resolution of 4096x4096.

Credit: NASA/SDO

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Frame sequence of the flare in 304 angstrom light. The frames and video have a resolution of 4096x4096.

Credit: NASA/SDO

For More Information

http://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/significant-flare-surges-off-the-sun/

Credits

Tom Bridgman (Global Science and Technology, Inc.): Lead Animator
Scott Wiessinger (USRA): Video Editor
Scott Wiessinger (USRA): Producer
Genna Duberstein (USRA): Producer
Karen Fox (ADNET Systems, Inc.): Writer
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. However, individual items should be credited as indicated above.

Short URL to share this page:
https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/11651

Mission:
SDO

This item is part of this series:
Heliophysics Breaking News

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

Keywords:
SVS >> HDTV
SVS >> Solar Wind
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 >> Earth Science >> Sun-earth Interactions >> Solar Activity >> Coronal Mass Ejections

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