Movies: 1.8 MB mpg (web), 0.7 MB m4v (iPad), 0.3 MB m4v (iPhone)
On the "Richter scale" of solar flares, the eruption you just witnessed registered C2.4. In years past, solar physicists regarded C-flares as minor events, but SDO is revealing them to be quite spectacular. Here are three more examples from May 8th: C1.8-flare, C9-flare, B7-flare.
This amazing footage comes from an observatory that has been in space for only a few months and is still being commissioned. Mission scientists are so busy calibrating sensors, fine-tuning software and generally getting acquainted with their spacecraft, they barely have time to interpret the torrent of data SDO is sending them. This will change in the weeks ahead as the commissioning phase winds down and the discovery phase revs up. Then the real excitement begins. Stay tuned!
more from the Solar Dynamics Observatory:
- First Light for SDO (Science@NASA)
- Massive Eruption, Scorching Rain on the Sun (Science@NASA)
