The US Aeronautics and Space Administration NASA has released a mesmerizing video showing close-ups of powerful solar flares.
NASA describes the filmed phenomenon rather poetically:
Brighter than a shimmering ghost, faster than the flick of a black cat’s tail, the Sun has bewitched us just in time for Halloween. ”
The video was filmed by the space observatory NASA Solar Dynamics Orbiter during the period of intense solar activity – from 25 to 28 October. On October 28, the largest active region released a significant flare, which peaked at 11:35 am ET.
Solar flares are powerful bursts of radiation. As the agency notes, harmful radiation from flares cannot pass through the Earth’s atmosphere and physically affect people on Earth, however, with sufficient intensity, it can disrupt the atmosphere in the layer where communication and GPS signals propagate.
This outbreak has been classified as a class X1 outbreak. The X-class denotes the most intense flares, while the number gives more information about its strength. X2 is twice as intense as X1, X3 is three times as intense, and so on. Outbreaks of class X10 and above are considered to be unusually intense. This was the second X-class outbreak in the 25th solar cycle, which began in December 2019. A new solar cycle occurs approximately every 11 years. During each cycle, the Sun shifts from a relatively calm state to an active and stormy one, and then again to a calm one.
Post a Comment
Post a Comment