NASA SDO - July 2-5, 2012

This video shows the solar activity from July 2, 13:00 UT through July 5, 13:00 UT in two different wavelengths.

The red filter (304 angstroms) is a channel especially good at showing areas where coolers dense plumes of plasma (filaments and prominences) are located above the visible surface of the Sun. The bright areas show places where the plasma has a high density. The temperature seen here is 50,000 degrees K or 90,000 degrees F.

The turquoise filter (131 angstroms) is a channel designated to study solar flares. It measures extremely hot temperatures around 10 million degrees K or 18 million degrees F.

During the period from July 2 to July 5 (13:00 UT) there were 18 M-class solar flares. Most originated from Active Region 1515 and ranged from M1.1 to M6.1. On July 4th alone the following M-class solar flares occurred:

04:37 UT M2.3
09:55 UT M5.3
12:24 UT M2.3
14:40 UT M1.3
16:39 UT M1.8
22:09 UT M4.6
23:55 UT M1.2

Solar Flares are categorized by C, M and X. C-class flares are small with only few noticeable consequences on Earth. M-class flares are medium sized and can cause brief radio blackouts that affect Earth's polar regions. Minor radiation storms sometimes follow an M-class flare. X-class flares are the biggest and they are major events that can trigger planet-wide radio blackouts and long-lasting radiation storms.

Each category for flares as nine subdivisions fringing from 1 to 9. For example C1 is lower than C9. And X4 is larger than M8. The only exception is the x-class category; it does not end at 9 and can go up past 10.

Credit: NASA SDO

[salemdog]

Thanks for posting, this is great footage!

[busybillyb]

lol ok, I thought this was to be seen with blue-red 3D glasses.