Extreme Solar Eruption Caught On Camera

Released Tuesday, August 2, 2011

ID: 3832

- Written by:
- Kayvon Sharghi

A massive spray of high-energy particles blasted from the sun and shot into space during a magnificent solar eruption captured by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) satellite. The spectacular event took place on June 7, 2011 over a period of six hours when an M-2 class (medium-sized) solar flare, a large prominence eruption, and a coronal mass ejection were observed from sunspot complex 1226-1227. Scientists estimate hot plasma and powerful X-rays burst into the sun's atmosphere and exited the corona at speeds over 3 million mph. Trapped particles unable to reach escape velocity traversed the solar sky in evanescent arcs, some traveling more than 215,000 miles, and showered the surface in a speckled array of bright flashes as the fiery sphere reheated the slightly cooled material. The Atmospheric Imaging Assembly instrument on SDO recorded the event at multiple wavelengths using its extreme UV sensor and transmitted the images to Earth in awesome 16.8 mega-pixel resolution. Watch a time-lapse video of the eruption below and relive the moment.

Hot plasma leaps from the sun in stunning HD.

Viewing the event at multiple wavelengths reveals plasma of different temperatures in the solar eruption.

At 4096 by 4096 pixels, SDO takes some of the largest images of the sun that the world's ever seen.

A plume of relatively "cool" plasma (dark green) rises in the solar atmosphere.

Earth is shown in approximate scale to a previous solar eruption that took place on Mar. 30, 2010.

For More Information

See NASA.gov

Credits

Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio

Animators
- Tom Bridgman (Global Science and Technology, Inc.)
- Chris Smith (HTSI)
Video editors
- Scott Wiessinger (UMBC)
- Chris Smith (HTSI)
Producers
- Scott Wiessinger (UMBC)
- Chris Smith (HTSI)
- Rani Gran (NASA/GSFC)
Writer
- Kayvon Sharghi (USRA)