Our Star: A Week Filled with Solar Flares | NASA Goddard

Our Star: A Week Filled with Solar Flares | NASA Goddard

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 (SDO) 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.

Credits: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC)/SDO

Scott Wiessinger (KBRwyle): Producer

Scott Wiessinger (KBRwyle): Editor

Tom Bridgman (GST): Visualizer

Written and produced by Lars Leonhard

Duration: 3 minutes, 14 seconds

Release Date: September 1, 2022

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