NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) has captured some truly incredible footage of the sun in the middle of a flare. The video is proof that science can be gorgeous.
Flares occur when spots with a lot of magnetic energy on the sun explode, emitting a cloud of radiation. NASA captured the video footage as part of its project to learn more about the sun and the ways that changes on the sun affect the Earth. A large solar flare has the potential to interfere with Earth's magnetic field, which can cause problems with electrical systems and radio systems.
You can watch the video footage online here. The flare pictured was captured on August 24 early in the morning eastern time. The flare was an M5 strength flare, more powerful than usual flares but still at least ten times less powerful than the most extreme flares, which are known as X-class flares. The flare is on the left side of the sun in the video images.
NOAA and the National Weather Service have launched a Space Weather website where they post information about how the sun's flares affect things on the Earth. Most solar flares have only a minor impact on Earth but some unusually large ones may impact radio communication or electricity.
NASA has posted a variety of pictures of the unusual flare from August 24. Look at these spectacular photos on NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio page. You can see photos of the solar flare in a variety of different wavelengths.
SDO was created under NASA's Living With a Star Program, which is striving to learn more about solar flares and how they affect our planet. The program's goal is to be able to predict what effect the sun will have on Earth by learning more about the Sun's magnetic field. The goal is to be able to predict space "weather" similar to how forecasters are now able to predict with good accuracy the weather conditions on Earth. All space weather comes from the sun, and has the potential to affect not just the Earth but all planets and the area around the sun. The website charts and maps the sun's magnetic activity in the past few months. NASA is also tracking solar wind ions, high energy particle fluxes, magnetic field vectors and energetic ions.
The SDO project began in February 2010.
