Active Region on the Sun Emits Another Flare

The sun's greatest hits as captured by the Solar Dynamic Observatory from February 2012 to February 2013. Music: Mistake (Davide Rossi Re-Work - Instrumental) courtesy of Moby Gratis.For complete transcript, click here. Blended 131 angstrom and 171 angstrom images of July 19, 2012 flare and CME. Blended images in 304 and 171 angstrom wavelength light of August 31, 2012 prominence eruption and CME. December 31, 2012 prominence in 304 angstrom light. On Feb. 11, 2010, NASA launched an unprecedented solar observatory into space. The Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) flew up on an Atlas V rocket, carrying instruments that scientists hoped would revolutionize observations of the sun. If all went according to plan, SDO would provide incredibly high-resolution data of the entire solar disk almost as quickly as once a second. When the science team released its first images in April of 2010, SDO's data exceeded everyone's hopes and expectations, providing stunningly detailed views of the sun. In the three years since then, SDO's images have continued to show breathtaking pictures and movies of eruptive events on the sun. Such imagery is more than just pretty, they are the very data that scientists study. By highlighting different wavelengths of light, scientists can track how material on the sun moves. Such movement, in turn, holds clues as to what causes these giant explosions, which, when Earth-directed, can disrupt technology in space. SDO is the first mission in a NASA's Living With a Star program, the goal of which is to develop the scientific understanding necessary to address those aspects of the sun-Earth system that directly affect our lives and society. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. built, operates, and manages the SDO spacecraft for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington, D.C.SDO: Year One here.SDO: Year 2 here.Information about the individual clips used in this video is here.Watch this video on YouTube. For More InformationSee [http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sdo/news/sdo-year3.html](http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sdo/news/sdo-year3.html) Related pages

Part 1For complete transcript, click here. Part 2For complete transcript, click here. NASA scientists answer some common questions about the sun, space weather, and how they affect the Earth. This is a two-part series.Part One addresses:1. What is space weather?2. What are coronal mass ejections?3. What are solar flares?4. What are solar energetic particles?5. What causes flares and CMEs?Part Two addresses:1. Do all flares and CMEs affect the Earth?2. What happens when a flare or CME hits the Earth?3. How quickly can we feel the effects of space weather?4. Why are there more flares and CMEs happening now?For more information about all these questions and more, visit NASA's Space Weather FAQ.For individual interview responses to frequently asked space weather questions, go here. Related pages

Short narrated video about flares, how they are classified, and their effect on Earth.For complete transcript, click here. Frame from movie showing the flare classification scale. SDO AIA 304 image of February 15, 2011 X class flare. Short animation showing the many wavelengths of the sun provided by SDO. Flares happen when the powerful magnetic fields in and around the sun reconnect. They're usually associated with active regions, often seen as sun spots, where the magnetic fields are strongest. Flares are classified according to their strength. The smallest ones are B-class, followed by C, M and X, the largest. Similar to the Richter scale for earthquakes, each letter represents a ten-fold increase in energy output. So an X is 10 times an M and 100 times a C. Within each letter class, there is a finer scale from 1 to 9. C-class flares are too weak to noticeably affect Earth. M-class flares can cause brief radio blackouts at the poles and minor radiation storms that might endanger astronauts. Although X is the last letter, there are flares more than 10 times the power of an X1, so X-class flares can go higher than 9. The most powerful flare on record was in 2003, during the last solar maximum. It was so powerful that it overloaded the sensors measuring it. They cut-out at X17, and the flare was later estimated to be about X45. A powerful X-class flare like that can create long lasting radiation storms, which can harm satellites and even give airline passengers, flying near the poles, small radiation doses. X flares also have the potential to create global transmission problems and world-wide blackouts. Related pages