Posted on by Nancy Atkinson

A Solar Flare of Many Colors

Here’s a great look at a beautiful, leaping C2.2-Class solar flare from the Sun on January 5, 2012. The Solar Dynamics Observatory captured the event and what’s awesome is how SDO can video one event in several different wavelengths.

From the SDO team:

The first view is 304 angstroms showing the cooler dense plumes of plasma (filaments and prominences). The temperature is at about 90,000 F.

The “Yellow” view is 171 angstroms and shows the coronal loops where plasma moves along magnetic field lines very well. The temperatures seen here are at approx. 1.8 million F.

The “Blue” view is 335 angstroms and highlights the active region of the outer atmosphere of the Sun, the corona. Active regions, solar flares, and coronal mass ejections appear bright here.

The last two views are composites of three wavelengths added together; 304, 193 and 171.

The actual event happened for approximately 1.5 hours.

12 Replies to “A Solar Flare of Many Colors”

  1. [W]hat’s awesome is how SDO can video one event in several different wavelengths.

    Yeah, but why is NASA still using the antiquated and arbitrary Fahrenheit scale?!

    1. Although I completely agree, it’s worth pointing out that the numbers are so high they’d be completely meaningless to most of us anyway! 90,000 Fahrenheit, 50,000 Centigrade, it’s all “rather toasty” to me 😉

      1. I thought scientific people were suposed to be using C. does this mean that NASA is no longer a scientifice orgainzation?

      2. I think scientists generally use Kelvin, actually. But you have to remember that many scientists also have a “public outreach” obligation, and fulfilling that will involve using units that the public can readily understand – even if the numbers are difficult to grasp.

    2. Although I completely agree, it’s worth pointing out that the numbers are so high they’d be completely meaningless to most of us anyway! 90,000 Fahrenheit, 50,000 Centigrade, it’s all “rather toasty” to me 😉

    3. Although I completely agree, it’s worth pointing out that the numbers are so high they’d be completely meaningless to most of us anyway! 90,000 Fahrenheit, 50,000 Centigrade, it’s all “rather toasty” to me 😉

    4. Although I completely agree, it’s worth pointing out that the numbers are so high they’d be completely meaningless to most of us anyway! 90,000 Fahrenheit, 50,000 Centigrade, it’s all “rather toasty” to me 😉

      1. Yeah, now that you’ve mentioned it, what’s that all about?! What’s wrong with 1×10^{-9} m, then?! 😉

  2. [W]hat’s awesome is how SDO can video one event in several different wavelengths.

    Yeah, but why is NASA still using the antiquated and arbitrary Fahrenheit scale?!

  3. [W]hat’s awesome is how SDO can video one event in several different wavelengths.

    Yeah, but why is NASA still using the antiquated and arbitrary Fahrenheit scale?!

  4. [W]hat’s awesome is how SDO can video one event in several different wavelengths.

    Yeah, but why is NASA still using the antiquated and arbitrary Fahrenheit scale?!

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