Name: Biggest solar flare in three years is sign sun is ‘waking up’
Uploaded: 2020-12-09T01:32:32+00:00
Duration: 1 min 36 s
Description: The biggest solar flare in three years just occurred. It’s a sign of things to come as we enter the active phase of the next solar cycle. (M Live) The solar flare, which is a sudden, bright explosion

3 years ago

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The biggest solar flare in three years just occurred. It’s a sign of things to come as we enter the active phase of the next solar cycle. (M Live)

The solar flare, which is a sudden, bright explosion of electromagnetic energy, measured as an M4.4 on the scale astronomers use for sun storms. (Space)

Bob Rutledge, lead of operations at NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center, says that although the solar flare is beautiful to look at from NASA images, this one didn’t really excite him. (M Live)

He did get some excitement in just knowing there are many more sunspots to come between now and around 2025. Rutledge says it’s kind of like the first inch of snow in November. We know it’s not a big snowstorm by mid-winter standards, but it’s the excitement of the first snow. (M Live)

Sunspots -- dark areas on the sun -- help scientists track activity on the surface of our solar system's star. These dark spots are the origin point for the explosive flares and ejections that release light, solar material and energy into space. (CNN)

This "space weather" caused by the sun is important to understand because it can impact the power grid, satellites, GPS, airlines, rockets and astronauts working in space. (CNN)

The National Science Foundation's Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope, a new solar observatory based in Hawaii, has released its first image of the sun, which captures that activity in striking detail. (CNN)

Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/08/world/sunspot-high-res-image-scn-trnd/index.html

Source: https://www.mlive.com/weather/2020/12/biggest-solar-flare-in-three-years-is-sign-sun-is-waking-up.html

Source: https://www.space.com/sun-fires-off-solar-flare-m4-worst-three-years

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