A Week Filled with Flares, August 2022

  • Released Thursday, September 1st, 2022
  • Updated Wednesday, May 3rd, 2023 at 11:44AM
  • ID: 14202

The Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) spotted 11 significant flares on the Sun from August 12-18, 2022. Here's what that looked like at 171 angstroms, one of the wavelengths of light that SDO captures.

Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/SDO

Music: "Rhombus" from Geometric Shapes. Written and produced by Lars Leonhard.

Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.

Complete transcript available.

During the week of Friday, August 12, to Thursday, August 18, 2022 the Sun was particularly busy. Several bright active regions were present, and starting on the 15th, they were responsible for 11 M-class flares. M-class flares are one level below X-class, the highest-energy designation. This imagery is all captured by the Solar Dynamics Observatory in the 171-angstrom wavelength of extreme-ultraviolet light. This wavelength is particularly good at showing loop structures in the Sun's corona, or atmosphere.

At times, the image of the Sun disappears from view. SDO is in a geosynchronous orbit and occasionally Earth gets in between SDO and the Sun, blocking the view. Careful observation will reveal a fuzzy edge to the blackness that travels across the solar disk. This is Earth's atmosphere.

4k frames and video of the Sun captured by SDO in 171-angstrom light. This sequence covers 0:00 UTC August 12 to 23:59 UTC August 18, 2022, at a cadence of one image every 108 seconds.

Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/SDO

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