Contains:  Solar system body or event
AR2759, The Biggest Solar Flare of the Year, Eric Coles (coles44)

AR2759, The Biggest Solar Flare of the Year

AR2759, The Biggest Solar Flare of the Year, Eric Coles (coles44)

AR2759, The Biggest Solar Flare of the Year

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Description

Description from The Solar Dynamics Observatory:

The biggest solar flare of the year happened yesterday. But don't get excited; it was puny. On April 4th, NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory captured the ultraviolet flash from new-cycle sunspot AR2759:

This is a B4-class flare. It caused only a brief and ephemeral wave of ionization to ripple through our planet's upper atmosphere. There were no radio blackouts, GPS disturbances, or satellite outages. Only during Solar Minimum would such a flare receive any attention at all.

On the other hand, perhaps "B" stands for "Bigger than you think." A typical B-class solar flare releases as much energy as 100 million WWII atomic bombs. Only on the sun, which is itself a 1027 ton self-contained nuclear explosion, would such a blast be considered "puny."

So did something big happen yesterday? Or not? Yes to both.

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    AR2759, The Biggest Solar Flare of the Year, Eric Coles (coles44)
    Original
  • Final
    AR2759, The Biggest Solar Flare of the Year, Eric Coles (coles44)
    B

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AR2759, The Biggest Solar Flare of the Year, Eric Coles (coles44)

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Narrowband imaging