Holiday Lights on the Sun

  • Released Monday, December 22, 2014

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.

NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory captured an X-class solar flare erupting on the sun on Dec. 19, 2014. This image blends two wavelengths of extreme ultraviolent light, 171 (gold) and 131 (purple).Credit: NASA/SDO/Duberstein

NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory captured an X-class solar flare erupting on the sun on Dec. 19, 2014. This image blends two wavelengths of extreme ultraviolent light, 171 (gold) and 131 (purple).

Credit: NASA/SDO/Duberstein



Credits

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

Release date

This page was originally published on Monday, December 22, 2014.
This page was last updated on Wednesday, May 3, 2023 at 1:50 PM EDT.


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Tapes

This visualization originally appeared on the following tapes:
  • Holiday Lights on the Sun (ID: 2014109)
    Monday, December 22, 2014 at 5:00AM
    Produced by - Will Duquette (NASA)