The Sun Has Released A Significant Solar Flare

NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory captured this image of a solar flare – as seen in the bright flash in the upper left portion of the image- on April 16, 2022.
The image shows a subset of extreme ultraviolet light that highlights the extremely hot material in flares, and which is colorized in SDO channel color AIA 304.

The Sun emitted a significant solar flare on April 16, 2022, peaking at 11:34 p.m. EST. NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, which watches the Sun constantly, captured an image of the event.

Image of a significant solar flare captured by NASA’s Solar Dynamic Observatory.

NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory captured this image of a solar flare – as seen in the bright flash in the upper left portion of the image- on April 16, 2022. The image shows a subset of extreme ultraviolet light that highlights the extremely hot material in flares, and which is colorized in SDO channel color AIA 304.

Solar flares are powerful bursts of energy. Flares and solar eruptions can impact radio communications, electric power grids, navigation signals, and pose risks to spacecraft and astronauts.

This flare is classified as an X-Class flare. X-class denotes the most intense flares, while the number provides more information about its strength. More info on how flares are classified can be found here.

To see how space weather may affect Earth, please visit NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center https://spaceweather.gov/, the U.S. government’s official source for space weather forecasts, watches, warnings, and alerts. NASA works as a research arm of the nation’s space weather effort. NASA observes the Sun and our space environment constantly with a fleet of spacecraft that study everything from the Sun’s activity to the solar atmosphere, and to the particles and magnetic fields in the space surrounding Earth.

Space Weather