Sun Unleashes Biggest Flare of the Current Cycle

By Nancy Atkinson - February 14, 2011 at 8:18 AM UTC | Solar Astronomy
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On February 13, 2011, sunspot 1158 let loose the strongest solar flare of the current solar cycle, a blast of radiation across the electromagnetic spectrum, from radio waves to x-rays and gamma-rays. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory recorded an intense flash of extreme ultraviolet radiation, as seen above, and located in approximately the middle of the Sun's disk in the image below. The eruption also produced a loud blast of radio waves, and coronagraph data from STEREO-A and SOHO agree that the explosion produced a fast but not particularly bright coronal mass ejection.

Spaceweather.com

predicts a CME cloud will likely hit Earth's magnetic field on or about Feb. 15th, and high-latitude sky watchers should be alert for auroras.

[caption id="attachment_83287" align="aligncenter" width="580" caption="A M6.6-category flare on Feb. 13. Credit: NASA/SDO"]

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This was an M6.6-category flare. Find out more about the classification of solar flares

at this link at Spaceweather.com

[caption id="attachment_83288" align="aligncenter" width="580" caption="Another view from SDO of the flare. Credit: NASA/SDO"]

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[caption id="attachment_83289" align="aligncenter" width="580" caption="A look at sunspot 1158 as of Feb. 14, 2011. This is the source of the recent activity on the Sun. Credit: NASA/SDO"]

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Jason Major from

Lights in the Dark

created the video below of magnetic activity around a sunspot 1158, from data region from SDO spacecraft, during February 12-13, 2011.

Keep tabs on the Sun by visiting the

SDO website, which shows the current Sun

in several different wavelengths.

Sources:

SDO,

Spaceweather.com

Nancy Atkinson

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