Big Bear Solar Observatory

This movie shows material erupting from a flare near the limb of the Sun on October 10, 1971. The ejected material is heated to many millions of degrees and produces an energy equivalent to as much as a million megatons of TNT. Flares are short bursts (5-10 minutes) of energy from the Sun. The origin of flares is not well understood, but it is thought that they are related to the liberation of energy stored in the solar corona.

Flare Monitoring

Flares are categorized by their brightness in X-Rays. The most energetic flares are X-Class flares followed by M-Class and C-Class. X-Class flares have a tenth the energy of M flares and C-Class flares have a tenth of the energy of an M flare. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration monitors the X-Ray energy from the Sun using satellites. The radiation from flares disrupts the Earth's ionosphere, causing communication blackouts and power outages, and the Northern and Southern lights.

Ellen Cohen