Thursday, September 22, 2011

An X-class flare from Approaching Active Region


An active region is rotating into view on the Sun's limb. This morning it let loose with a X1.4 flare. Let's hope for more as the active region continues to rotate onto the disk. I like the way the tops of the loops saturate and bloom while the loops remain visible. A little bit of spray at 11:02:34, but if a prominence eruption also happened it was before the flare started.

Thanks to Sam Freeland for this movie using the 211, 193, and 171 Å bandpasses of AIA. A high-res version of the video is available at http://sdowww.lmsal.com/sdomedia/h264/2011/09/22/SSW_cutout_20110922T1024-20110922T1159_AIA_211-193-171_N09E89.mov.