(The bright solar flare can be seen on the left side of the sun in this image – Photo Credit: NASA/SDO)
On August 24th, the sun emitted a mid-level solar flare, otherwise known as a coronal mass ejection, that was captured on camera by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory and the Solar and Terrestrial Relations Observatory.
(This close-up of the flare shows it in the 131 and 171 Angstrom wavelengths. The 131 wavelength is colourized in teal and highlights the extremely hot material of the flare. The 171 wavelength is shown in gold, highlighting magnet loops in the sun’s atmosphere – Photo Credit: NASA/SDO)
Harmful radiation from solar flares cannot pass through Earth’s atmosphere and physically affect humans, however if they are intense enough, they can disturb GPS and communications signals.
Luckily, this flare was an M5 flare which is ten times less powerful than the most intense flares, which are called X-class flares.
You can watch a video of the M5 solar flare below.
[Video Credit: NASA]
The Solar System & Beyond 