This movie shows 23 of the 26 M- and X-class flares on the sun
between 1800 UT Oct. 23 and 1500 UT Oct. 28, 2013, as captured by NASA’s
Solar Dynamics Observatory. It also shows the coronal mass ejections —
great clouds of solar material bursting off the sun into space — during
that time as captured by the ESA/NASA Solar and Heliospheric
Observatory. Music: “Stella Nova” by Lars Leonhard, courtesy of the
artist and Ultimae records.
The sun emitted a significant solar flare – its fourth X-class flare
since Oct. 23, 2013 — peaking at 5:54 p.m. on Oct. 29, 2013. Solar
flares are powerful bursts of radiation. 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.
This disrupts the radio signals for as long as the flare is ongoing,
anywhere from minutes to hours.
To see how this event may impact Earth, please visit NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center, the U.S. government’s official source for space weather forecasts, alerts, watches and warnings.
This flare is classified as an X2.3 class flare. “X-class” denotes
the most intense flares, while the number provides more information
about its strength. An X2 is twice as intense as an X1, an X3 is three
times as intense, etc.
Increased numbers of flares are quite common at the moment, since the
sun’s normal 11-year activity cycle is ramping up toward solar maximum
conditions. Humans have tracked this solar cycle continuously since it
was discovered in 1843, and it is normal for there to be many flares a
day during the sun’s peak activity.
