NASA/SDO
Nasa’s Solar Dynamics Observatory captured this image of a solar flare occurring. The image shows a subset of extreme ultraviolet light that highlights the extremely hot material in flares and which is colourised in orange.
Nasa has captured the moment the Sun emitted a powerful burst of energy into space.
According to the space agency, a “strong solar flare” erupted from the Sun at 8.25am (NZT) on Monday.
Nasa’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, which watches the Sun constantly, managed to capture a photo of the event.
In a statement online, Nasa said flares and solar eruptions have the ability to impact radio communications, electric power grids, GPS, and also can pose risks to spacecraft and astronauts.
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According to NOAA, some radio blackout activity was observed following the eruption of electromagnetic radiation – which travels at the speed of light – and further solar flare activity was likely over the coming days.
The type of flare that was photographed on Monday is classified as an X1 flare. X is the most powerful possible class of flare – though the “1” indicates that it is low in strength.
It’s not the first time the Sun has been caught releasing powerful bursts of energy into space. In February, the Solar Orbiter spacecraft captured a giant solar eruption on camera.
At the time, it was the largest solar prominence eruption ever observed in a single image, along with the full disk of the Sun, the European Space Agency said.
STUFF
Fun facts about space from Nasa.
Solar prominences are large structures of tangled magnetic field lines that keep dense concentrations of solar plasma suspended above the Sun’s surface, sometimes taking the form of arching loops. They are often associated with coronal mass ejections, which are large expulsions of plasma and magnetic field from the Sun.
