Solar flares happen often on the sun, but have you ever seen a picture of one?
This is a picture of the first solar flare of 2015. This is an M5.6 type flare, which is about one tenth as strong as the strongest flares. These strongest flares are called X class flares. (The number after the letter refers to how strong it is relative to the base M sized flare.)
The picture is a blend between two wavelengths, 171 and 304 angstroms. An angstrom is 1/10th of a nanometer. This is in the higher energy portion of ultraviolet light. [1]
Solar flares are releases of high energy photons due to the sun's magnetic field. The sun is made up of plasma. Plasma moves around mostly according to electromagnetic fields. These magnetic fields can get twisted around each other. As tension increases they eventually snap back into place, releasing massive amounts of energy. This energy is mostly released in the form of photons, but sometimes some of the plasma is shot off too. This is called a coronal mass ejection. [2]
More NASA Computer Generated Imagery, NASA lies.
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This post received a 2.0% upvote from @randowhale thanks to @anarchyhasnogods! For more information, click here!
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It looks so scary.
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Since the Earth has a magnetic field these usually just get pushed out of the way. All they can do is mess up a few satellites and cause some aurora borealis.
The coronal mass ejections on the other hand can destroy our electronics, which isn't good.
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Hello please kindly like my post too thanks
https://steemit.com/eos/@romantic4/situational-confidence
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Cool! It's crazy to think how much bigger than earth those sunspots alone are.
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