The sun fired off a midlevel solar flare early morning on (Aug. 24) while a NASA satellite watched.
The space agency's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) captured an image of the flare, which erupted at 3:33
a.m. EDT (0733 GMT) this morning from an Earth-facing sunspot known as Active Region 2403.
Space-weather researchers classify strong flares into three categories — C, M or X. X flares are 10 times more powerful than M flares, which in turn are 10 times more intense than C eruptions. This morning's outburst
registered as an M5.6, NASA scientists said. (An M5 flare
is five times more powerful than an M1.) [The Biggest
Solar Storms of 2015 in Photos ]
Solar flares are bursts of high-energy radiation that
cannot get through Earth's atmosphere to affect people
on the ground. However, extremely powerful flares can
have impacts higher up, triggering temporary radio
blackouts and radiation storms that could endanger
orbiting astronauts.
Flares are often accompanied by explosions of
superheated solar plasma called coronal mass ejections
(CMEs). Potent CMEs that hit Earth can spawn
geomagnetic storms powerful enough to disrupt radio
signals, GPS communications and power grids. CMEs
also often supercharge the beautiful auroral displays
known as the northern and southern lights.
It's unclear at the moment if this morning's eruption
produced a CME, said researchers with the Space
Weather Prediction Center (SWPC), which is run by the
United States' National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration.
SWPC scientists said they'll know more after they
analyze data from the Solar and Heliospheric
Observatory (SOHO), a sun-studying spacecraft operated
jointly by NASA and the European Space Agency.
"Although this flare is bigger than we have seen in some
time, it was very impulsive and lacked typical radio
signatures that are often associated with CMEs," SWPC
researchers wrote in an update today. "We will update as
additional data becomes available."
Skywatchers were treated to enhanced auroras over the
weekend, thanks to a stream of solar particles, and more
sky shows could be in the offiing. Two small CMEs that
erupted several days ago could hit the planet today,
SWPC scientists said.
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