This latest solar flare was a mid-level one

Aug 24, 2015 21:27 GMT  ·  By

This Monday, August 24, NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory, launched in February of 2010, witnessed our parent star flare up and cough out a powerful burst of radiation.

This latest solar flare documented on the Sun peaked at 3:33 a.m. EDT and was caught on film by the Observatory. Just scroll down to have a look at it yourselves.

The radiation burst was a M 5.6 class flare, meaning it was a mid-level one. X-class flares, the most powerful flares that can happen on the Sun, are a dozen times more intense.

“M-class flares are a tenth the size of the most intense flares, the X-class flares. The number provides more information about its strength. An M2 is twice as intense as an M1, an M3 is three times as intense and so on,” astronomers explain.

Usually, the radiation produced during such events does not in any way disturb life here on Earth, seeing how our planet's atmosphere blocks it and keeps it from physically affecting us.

Every once in a while, though, some flares are so powerful that the radiation they release upsets GPS and communications signals, putting a dent in our otherwise tranquil existence.

Because of this, efforts are now underway to develop technologies and algorithms to predict solar flares some good hours before they actually occur. This should give us plenty of time to counter their effects.

Solar flare documented this August 24
Solar flare documented this August 24

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The Sun flares up quite often
Solar flare documented this August 24
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