Looking Back: The Record Flare for Solar Cycle 24

  • Released Friday, May 16, 2014
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On August 9, 2011 at 3:48 a.m. EDT, the sun emitted an Earth-directed X6.9 flare, as measured by the NOAA GOES satellite. These gigantic bursts of radiation cannot pass through Earth's atmosphere to harm humans on the ground, however they can disrupt the atmosphere and disrupt GPS and communications signals. In this case, it appears the flare is strong enough to potentially cause some radio communication blackouts. It also produced increased solar energetic proton radiation — enough to affect humans in space if they do not protect themselves.

As of March 2014, this flare is the largest of solar cycle 24.

Here are the raw images used in creating the components in Sun Unleashes X6.9 Class Flare on August 9, 2011

The X6.9 flare as seen by SDO/AIA in 13.1nm filter.

The X6.9 flare as seen by SDO/AIA in 17.1nm filter.

The X6.9 flare as seen by SDO/AIA in 19.3nm filter.

The X6.9 flare as seen by SDO/AIA in 30.4nm filter.

The X6.9 flare as seen by SDO/AIA in 33.5nm filter.

Credits

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio, the SDO Science Team, and the Virtual Solar Observatory.

This page was originally published on Friday, May 16, 2014.
This page was last updated on Wednesday, May 3, 2023 at 1:50 PM EDT.

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