Holiday Lights on the Sun
- Produced by:
- Genna Duberstein
- View full credits
The sun emitted an X1.8-class solar flare, peaking at 7:24 p.m. EST on Dec. 19, 2014.
Watch this video on the NASAexplorer YouTube channel.
The sun emitted a significant solar flare, peaking at 7:24 p.m. EST on Dec. 19, 2014. NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, which watches the sun constantly, captured an image 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.
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 X1.8-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.
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 X1.8-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.
Credits
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
Producer
- Genna Duberstein (ADNET) [Lead]
Missions
This visualization is related to the following missions:Series
This visualization can be found in the following series:Tapes
This visualization originally appeared on the following tapes:- None
Related pages
December 2014 Sparkling X-Flare from Solar Dynamics Observatory
Feb. 10, 2015, 7 p.m.
Read moreA view of the X-flare in the 131 angstrom filter. In the latter half of December 2014, the Sun erupted with an X-flare that launched a number of bright flashes in succession over a period of several hours. A view of the X-flare in the 171 angstrome filter. 4Kx4K frames of the X-flare in the 171angstrom filter. 4Kx4K frames of the X-flare in the 131 angstrom filter.
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