Sun  ID: 10833

What Does It Take To Be X-Class?

Story by Karen Fox | Visualizations by Scott Wiessinger Released on December 20, 2011
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Giant explosions leap off the sun's surface with the power of a billion hydrogen bombs.
The largest explosions in the solar system get rewarded for their sheer brawn with a fitting, sci-fi-sounding name: X-class. Made visible to us by sun-observing satellites, these solar flares are awesome to watch. Loops of solar material—called plasma—leap off the sun's surface and expand to 10 times the size of Earth. The biggest flares can produce as much energy as a billion hydrogen bombs. Scientists categorize solar flares according to strength. The smallest ones are A-class, at near-background solar activity levels, followed by B, C, M, and X. Similar to the Richter scale for earthquakes, each letter represents a 10-fold increase in energy output. So an X is 10 times an M and 100 times a C. Within each letter class there is a finer scale from one to nine. Although X is the last letter, there are flares more than 10 times the power of an X1, so X-class flares can go higher than nine. As the sun approaches the peak of its 11-year cycle, expect more activity like the X6.9 flare on Aug. 9, 2011, seen above. Its brightness briefly overloaded satellite image sensors. Watch the videos below for footage of and a guide to these extreme solar phenomena.
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An X-class flare bursts from the sun on Aug. 9, 2011 as seen by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) satellite.
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Powerful X-class flares create radiation storms that produce auroras and can give airline passengers flying over the poles small radiation doses.
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NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) has created unprecedented views of solar explosions, like this one on Feb. 15, 2011.
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The "Halloween storm" of 2003 created the strongest solar flare ever recorded. Sensors cut out at X17 but it was ultimately estimated as an X45.
 

Related Story

X-Class: A Guide to Solar Flares

For More Information

NASA.gov

Story Credits

Lead Visualizer/Animator:
Scott Wiessinger (USRA)

Visualizers/Animators:
Walt Feimer (HTSI)
Chris Smith (HTSI)
Tom Bridgman (Global Science and Technology, Inc.)
Alex Kekesi (Global Science and Technology, Inc.)

Narrator:
Karen Fox (ADNET Systems, Inc.)

Producer:
Scott Wiessinger (USRA)

Lead Writer:
Karen Fox (ADNET Systems, Inc.)

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

Short URL to share this page:
https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/10833

Keywords:
DLESE >> Narrated
SVS >> App
NASA Science >> Sun