Third Flare in Three Days

Third Flare in Three Days, a photo by NASA Goddard Photo and Video on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
An M9.3 flare (fairly strong-sized) along with a coronal mass ejection (CME) blasted out from the Sun and headed in the general direction of Earth (Aug. 4, 2011). This was the third flare in three days from Active Region 1261. The still shows the characteristic spreading of light caused by the brightness of the flare as observed in extreme ultraviolet light. But, the CME can be seen distinctly as a darker cloud lifting off and rising up and out into space, something we usually do not get to see so clearly. The movie covers about four hours of activity. The power of the storm is ranked as K-7 on a 1-9 scale. You can also watch the event in another wavelength (AIA304 in reddish-orange) of extreme UV light in which the CME appears more clearly, but the flare is not as obvious.

Credit: NASA/GSFC/SDO