A solar flare flashed on the turbulent surface of the sun last week – and NASA captured the moment in a video. The agency’s Solar Dynamics Observatory watched as balletic lines of light swirled and grew to produce the M-class flare.
Solar flares get letter grades to categorize their strength. The weakest ones are A-class; then come B, C, M and finally X class. Each letter class is 10 times stronger than the one before it. Numbers attached to each letter put a finer point on each flare’s power. The M6.5 flare that peaked on April 2 at 7:05 a.m. was a mid-level flare that, if aimed at Earth, probably wouldn’t have caused a whole lot of trouble.
For more on this story visit: Amina Khan, LA Times
