How Big Are Solar Flares?

By Nancy Atkinson - August 08, 2011 09:22 PM UTC | Solar Astronomy

With the recent activity on the Sun, we've used the words "massive" or "huge" to describe solar flares. But just how big are they, really? This great video explains and illustrates the actual size of solar flares.

Thanks to

Scott Stevenson

for creating and sending us the video. Scott notes that text subtitles are available if you click on the "CC" button on the bottom of the video screen, making this informative video accessible to a wider audience.

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Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com