Furious February Flares

  • Released Tuesday, February 17, 2026
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In early February 2026, the Sun emitted more than 50 flares including several X-class events, which is the most intense category of solar flares. NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory watches the Sun 24/7 and captured these views of the Sun in multiple wavelengths of light.

The Sun’s activity, which includes flares, follows an approximately 11-year cycle that creates periods of high and low activity. After reaching the current cycle’s most active phase in 2024 — known as solar maximum — the Sun remains in a heightened period of activity.

For news of the recent flares: https://science.nasa.gov/blogs/solar-cycle-25/

Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.

Music credit: “Gravity” by Cy Samuels [PRS] via Universal Production Music

Complete transcript available.

This video shows imagery from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory from Feb. 1-4, 2026. The imagery shows a subset of ultraviolet light that highlights the extremely hot material in flares. This movie is generated for a wavelength of 131 Ångstroms (13.1 nanometers) which highlights a spectral line emitted by iron atoms that have lost 19 and 22 electrons (also known as iron-20 or Fe XX; and iron-23 or FeXXIII) at temperatures of 10,000,000 K. Temperatures like this represent material in a solar flare.

This video shows imagery from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory from Feb. 1-4, 2026. The imagery shows a subset of ultraviolet light that highlights the extremely hot material in flares. This movie is generated for a wavelength of 171 Ångstroms (17.1 nanometers), which highlights a spectral line emitted by iron atoms that have lost 8 electrons (also known as iron-9 or Fe IX) at temperatures of 600,000 K. Temperatures like this show the quiet corona and magnetic structures like coronal loops.

This video shows imagery from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory from Feb. 1-4, 2026. The imagery shows a subset of ultraviolet light that highlights the extremely hot material in flares. This movie is generated for a wavelength of 304 Ångstroms (30.4 nanometers) which highlights a spectral line emitted by helium atoms that have lost 1 electron (also known as helium-2 or He II) at temperatures of 50,000 K. This light is emitted from the upper transition region and the chromosphere. Solar prominences are readily visible at this wavelength.

This video shows imagery from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory from Feb. 5-9, 2026. The imagery shows a subset of ultraviolet light that highlights the extremely hot material in flares. This movie is generated for a wavelength of 131 Ångstroms (13.1 nanometers) which highlights a spectral line emitted by iron atoms that have lost 19 and 22 electrons (also known as iron-20 or Fe XX; and iron-23 or FeXXIII) at temperatures of 10,000,000 K. Temperatures like this represent material in a solar flare.

This video shows imagery from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory from Feb. 5-9, 2026. The imagery shows a subset of ultraviolet light that highlights the extremely hot material in flares. This movie is generated for a wavelength of 171 Ångstroms (17.1 nanometers), which highlights a spectral line emitted by iron atoms that have lost 8 electrons (also known as iron-9 or Fe IX) at temperatures of 600,000 K. Temperatures like this show the quiet corona and magnetic structures like coronal loops.

This video shows imagery from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory from Feb. 5-9, 2026. The imagery shows a subset of ultraviolet light that highlights the extremely hot material in flares. This movie is generated for a wavelength of 304 Ångstroms (30.4 nanometers) which highlights a spectral line emitted by helium atoms that have lost 1 electron (also known as helium-2 or He II) at temperatures of 50,000 K. This light is emitted from the upper transition region and the chromosphere. Solar prominences are readily visible at this wavelength.

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NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

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This page was originally published on Tuesday, February 17, 2026.
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