Late Summer M5 Solar Flare - August, 24, 2014

  • Released Monday, August 25th, 2014
  • Updated Wednesday, May 3rd, 2023 at 1:50PM
  • ID: 11629

On Aug. 24, 2014, the sun emitted a mid-level solar flare, peaking at 8:16 a.m. EDT. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory captured images of the flare, which erupted on the left side of the sun. 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.

To see how this event may affect Earth, please visit NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center at http://spaceweather.gov, the U.S. government's official source for space weather forecasts, alerts, watches and warnings.

This flare is classified as an M5 flare. M-class flares are ten times less powerful than the most intense flares, called X-class flares.

Visit the SDO site.



All Video and Image Credit:
NASA/SDO

Observations of the M class flare on August 24, 2014 NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory and STEREO.

Watch this video on the NASAexplorer YouTube channel.

Complete transcript available.

STEREO observations of the M class flare on August 24, 2014.

Video and Image Credit:

NASA/STEREO

Close up of 131 and 171 wavelegths blended into a single image

Close up of 131 and 171 wavelegths blended into a single image

171 and 304 wavelengths blended

171 and 304 wavelengths blended

SDO's view of the flare in 304 angstroms

SDO's view of the flare in 304 angstroms

SDO's view of the flare in 171 angstroms

SDO's view of the flare in 171 angstroms

SDO's view of the flare in 131 angstroms

SDO's view of the flare in 131 angstroms

For More Information

See http://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/nasa-captures-images-of-a-late-summer-flare/

Credits

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

Series

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