As summer draws to a close, the Sun decides to finish the season with a bang, releasing a number of solar flares as August winds down.
NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory captured all the action which peaked on Aug. 24. A mid-level solar flare started the event and soon more than half a dozen solar flares happened on the Sun's left side.
Solar flares are highly powerful bursts of radiation. The Sun had been experiencing increased activity lately and this has manifested in more than a handful of solar flares taking place in the past few days.
The biggest solar flare was the first solar flare reported for the event, an M-class flare which is known to be about 10 times smaller than the largest flare ever recorded, an X-class flare.
But though solar flares can be massive, they don't affect people because the Earth's atmosphere filters out the radiation. At the most, a solar flare's radiation can be intense enough to interfere with satellites in orbit and disturb communication and GPS signals temporarily. Solar flares also mean increased interaction between solar winds and particles in the atmosphere, resulting in bigger, more visible auroras.
The Sun releases solar flares whenever magnetic energy builds up in its atmosphere. But while the latest exhibition is a dramatic backdrop to summer's end, it is still in accordance with the Sun's space weather cycle which lasts for 11 years. Currently, the Sun is in Solar Cycle 24.
The solar flares reported all originated from the same region, a sun spot referred to as AR2151. This sun spot is known for intense magnetic activity on the surface of the Sun and NASA recorded the solar flares in action using an extreme ultraviolet light wavelength that is best for observing flares.
The Solar Dynamics Observatory is a NASA mission deployed in 2010 as part of the Living With a Star program. The goal of the program is to improve scientific understanding needed to address concerns associated with the relationship between the Sun and the Earth. The Solar Dynamics Observatory complements this goal by taking a closer look at how the Sun affects the Earth and nearby space through the study of the solar atmosphere. The spacecraft employed by the mission was developed by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland. Camilla Corona, a rubber chicken, is the Solar Dynamics Observatory's mascot and works alongside a public outreach team to educate people about the mission.
