NASA's SDO Observes Mid-level Beautiful Solar Flare

NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) that maintains its steady and unbroken gaze on the sun's active region, helps scientists understand this mysterious star better.

A mid level solar flare erupting from the Sun that peaked at 8.30 pm EDT was recorded by NASA's SDO, Wednesday.

The flare observed on Oct.23 was classified as a M9.4 flare, on a scale of M1to M9.9. This places the solar flare right on top of the scale for M class flares, which are known to be the weakest flares that trigger some space weather effects near Earth.  Similar types of flares that erupted in the past had caused radio blackouts at the poles.

Similar to storms, the solar flares are classified based on their intensity from A onwards. The weakest are the A class ones then come the B class and so on.   The highest level of flares is the X-class, the most intense ones. They pose a great threat to the astronauts and satellites present in the orbit.

Solar flares are the powerful bursts of solar radiation and they are observed by NASA instruments that use wavelengths beyond the visible spectrum. They emit dangerous material through space towards the Earth but luckily none pass through the atmosphere to cause havoc to earthlings. But it can disrupt the radio signals.

Since the sun is the near the solar maximum, such flare are common. Ever since these flares were discovered in 1843, the astronomers have been tracking the solar cycles. When the sun reaches its peak activity, several flares are observed in a day. Such spectacular events are prone to take place in the near future.

The year 2013, the strongest solar flare occurred on the evening of May 13 that also hurled coronal mass ejection (CME) into the space. The solar flare was classified as X3.2. During this time it ejected four solar flares. On May 13 the first solar flare was classified as X1.7, the second stronger flare was X2.8, third was X3.2 flare and fourth and final on May 15 was of X1 class.