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A Powerful Sequence of Flares Start September 2017
- Produced by:
- Scott Wiessinger
- View full credits
Short video showing the sequence of M and X flares starting on September 4, 2017 and culminating with an X9.3 flare — the largest of the solar cycle.
Music: "Networked" from Killer Tracks
Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.
Complete transcript available.
One minute video showing the two X flares on September 6, 2017. The second was an X9.3 flare — the largest of the solar cycle.
Music: "Networked" from Killer Tracks
Complete transcript available.
Active region 2673 emitted a series of flares in early September, 2017, including:
--an M5.5 at 4:33 p.m. EDT on Sept. 4, 2017
--an X2.2 at 5:10 a.m. EDT on Sept. 6, 2017
--an X9.3 at 8:02 a.m. EDT on Sept. 6, 2017
--an M7.3 at 6:15 a.m. EDT on Sept. 7, 2017
--an X1.3 at 10:36 a.m. EDT on Sept. 7, 2017
--an M8.1 at 3:49 a.m. EDT on Sept. 8, 2017
--an X8.2 at 12:47 p.m. EDT on Sept. 10, 2017
NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, which watches the sun constantly, captured images of the events. 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, however — when intense enough — they can disturb the atmosphere in the layer where GPS and communications signals travel.
To see how this event may affect Earth, please visit NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center at http://spaceweather.gov, the U.S. government's official source for space weather forecasts, alerts, watches and warnings.
X-class denotes the most intense flares, while the number provides more information about its strength. An X2 is twice as intense as an X1, an X3 is three times as intense, etc.
The X9.3 flare was the largest flare so far in the current solar cycle, the approximately 11-year-cycle during which the sun’s activity waxes and wanes. The current solar cycle began in December 2008, and is now decreasing in intensity and heading toward solar minimum. This is a phase when such eruptions on the sun are increasingly rare, but history has shown that they can nonetheless be intense.
September 10, X8.2
Different views of the X9.3 flare from Sept. 6, 2017. On the left, it flashes in a blend of 131 and 171 angstrom light. On the right it shows light in both visible and 304 angstrom extreme ultraviolet wavelengths, revealing both sunspots visible on the Sun's surface and the flare in the solar atmosphere.>Credit: NASA/GSFC/SDO
Credits
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. However individual items should be credited as indicated above.
Visualizer
- Tom Bridgman (GST)
Science writer
- Karen Fox (ADNET)
Producer
- Scott Wiessinger (KBRwyle) [Lead]
Technical support
- Aaron E. Lepsch (ADNET)
Missions
This visualization is related to the following missions:Series
This visualization can be found in the following series:Related pages
September Flares 4k
Oct. 6, 2017, 7 a.m.
Read more4k frames and ProRes video from SDO quicklook products. This footage is in 131 angstrom extreme ultraviolet light at approximately 30 second imaging cadence. It covers the time period of 14:59 to 17:00UTC 9/10/2017. Full-resolution 4k resources for the series of early September flares from active region 2673. These flares include:--an M5.5 at 4:33 p.m. EDT on Sept. 4, 2017--an X2.2 at 5:10 a.m. EDT on Sept. 6, 2017--an X9.3 at 8:02 a.m. EDT on Sept. 6, 2017--an M7.3 at 6:15 a.m. EDT on Sept. 7, 2017--an X1.3 at 10:36 a.m. EDT on Sept. 7, 2017--an M8.1 at 3:49 a.m. EDT on Sept. 8, 2017--an X8.2 at 12:47 p.m. EDT on Sept. 10, 2017 4k frames and ProRes video from SDO quicklook products. This footage is in 304 angstrom extreme ultraviolet light at approximately 30 second imaging cadence. It covers the time period of 09:59UTC 9/10/2017 to 04:00UTC 9/11/2017. 4k frames and ProRes video from SDO quicklook products. This footage is in 171 angstrom extreme ultraviolet light at approximately 30 second imaging cadence. It covers the time period of 09:59UTC 9/10/2017 to 04:00UTC 9/11/2017. 4k frames and ProRes video from SDO quicklook products. This footage is in 171 angstrom extreme ultraviolet light at approximately 30 second imaging cadence. It covers the time period of 00:00UTC 9/04/2017 to 19:00UTC 9/7/2017. 4k frames and ProRes video from SDO quicklook products. This footage is in 131 angstrom extreme ultraviolet light at approximately 30 second imaging cadence. It covers the time period of 00:00UTC 9/04/2017 to 19:00UTC 9/7/2017. 4k frames and ProRes video from SDO quicklook products. This footage is in 304 angstrom extreme ultraviolet light at approximately 30 second imaging cadence. It covers the time period of 00:00UTC 9/04/2017 to 18:01UTC 9/06/2017. 4k frames and ProRes video from SDO quicklook products. This footage is in 171 angstrom extreme ultraviolet light at approximately 30 second imaging cadence. 4k frames and ProRes video from SDO quicklook products. This footage is in 131 angstrom extreme ultraviolet light at approximately 30 second imaging cadence.
The X8.2 Flare of September 2017, as Seen by SDO
April 30, 2019, 8 p.m.
Read more40 hours of AIA 131 angstrom imager at 12 second cadence viewing the time around the X8.2 solar flare. Between September 9-10 of 2017, the Sun launched a series of three coronal mass ejections (CMEs), culminating with an X8.2 flare from the eastern limb, as the active region was rotating away from the Earth. These events rippled across the solar system, and were detected by multiple NASA missions.A slow (500 km/s) CME was launched at 23:46UT on September 9. A second faster CME (1000km/s) was launched on September 10 at 02:16UT and the fastest CME (2600 km/s) was launched at 16:54 UT. The faster CMEs would eventually catch up with the slower CME and merge into a single CME moving through the solar system.These image sequences from SDO are selected at a higher time resolution (12 seconds between frames) compared to some of the older content related to these events. 40 hours of AIA 171 angstrom imager at 12 second cadence viewing the time around the X8.2 solar flare.. 40 hours of AIA 304 angstrom imager at 12 second cadence viewing the time around the X8.2 solar flare. 40 hours of AIA 131 angstrom imager (4Kx4K) at 12 second cadence viewing the time around the X8.2 solar flare. 40 hours of AIA 171 angstrom imager (4Kx4K) at 12 second cadence viewing the time around the X8.2 solar flare. 40 hours of AIA 304 angstrom imager (4Kx4K) at 12 second cadence viewing the time around the X8.2 solar flare.