Significant Solar Flare Erupts From Sun | NASA SDO

Significant Solar Flare Erupts From Sun | NASA SDO

NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) captured this image of a solar flare—as seen in the bright flash in the top right portion of the image—on March 30, 2022. The image shows a subset of extreme ultraviolet light that highlights the extremely hot material in flares and which is colorized in yellow (AIA 171).

Solar flares are powerful bursts of energy. Flares and solar eruptions can impact radio communications, electric power grids, navigation signals, and pose risks to spacecraft and astronauts.

This flare is classified as an X-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. More info on how flares are classified can be found here: 

https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/phenomena/solar-flares-radio-blackouts

To see how such space weather may affect Earth, please visit Space Weather Prediction Center at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) https://spaceweather.gov, the U.S. government’s official source for space weather forecasts, watches, warnings, and alerts. NASA works as a research arm of the nation’s space weather effort. NASA observes the Sun and our space environment constantly with a fleet of spacecraft that study everything from the Sun’s activity to the solar atmosphere, and to the particles and magnetic fields in the space surrounding Earth.    

Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

Release Date: March 30, 2022

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