September 29, 2014: A mid-level solar flare, M5.1 class, erupts from the sun in this image from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory. The bright flash of light shows material at some 18 million F. SDO captures such temperatures by focusing on light with a wavelength of 131 Angstroms, which is typically colorized in teal.
The sun emitted a mid-level solar flare, peaking at 10:58 p.m. EDT on Sept. 27, 2014, and NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory captured images of the event. Solar flares are powerful bursts of radiation from the sun. Harmful radiation from a flare cannot pass through Earth's atmosphere to physically affect humans on the ground, however—
when intense enough—they can disturb the atmosphere in the layer where GPS and communications signals travel.
To see how this event may have affected Earth, please visit NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center at http://spaceweather.gov, the U.S. government's official source for space weather forecasts, alerts, watches and warnings.
This flare is classified as an M5.1 flare. M-class flares are one-tenth as powerful as the most powerful flares, designated X-class flares.
Further updates will be provided as needed.
What is a solar flare?
For answers to this and other space weather questions, please visit the Spaceweather Frequently Asked Questions page:
www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sunearth/spaceweather/index.html
Credit: NASA/SDO
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