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Solar Cycle 25

Viewing Posts from October 2021

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    Active October Sun Releases X-Class Flare

    A small portion of the Sun is shown in shades of red, black, and yellow. Two bright yellow regions appear in contrast to the surrounding areas, which appear as patches of dark red and black.

    Brighter than a shimmering ghost, faster than the flick of a black cat's tail, the Sun cast a spell in our direction, just in time for Halloween. This imagery captured by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory covers a busy few days of activity between Oct. 25-28 that ended with a significant solar flare. From late afternoon …

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    Sun Releases Significant Solar Flare

    A satellite image of the Sun, colored in teal, shows a bright flare at the Sun's lower center.

    The Sun emitted a significant solar flare peaking at 11:35 a.m. EDT on Oct. 28, 2021. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory, which watches the Sun constantly, captured an image of the event. 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, …

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    Solar Eruption Arrives at Earth

    teal colored sun showing solar flare

    A mass of solar material that erupted from the Sun on Oct. 9, 2021, reached Earth on Oct. 12. The Earth-directed coronal mass ejection, or CME, elevated the Kp index, a measure of disturbance to Earth's magnetic field, to 6 (moderate level). Kp index levels range from 0 (quiet) to 9 (intense). The CME was …

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