Thursday, May 8, 2014

X-class Solar Flares from Space and the Ground!

Wondering what else we need to know to understand X-class solar flares? Join SDO and others on a Google+ Hangout today at 2:30 pm ET. We will describe an X1 flare that happened 29-Mar-2014. It was the first X flare observed by IRIS and was also seen by SDO, SoHO, Hinode, RHESSI, and the Dunn Solar Telescope in New Mexico. When IRIS watches a solar flare it can measure how fast the plasma is moving, a huge clue to how flares work. This flare produced a nice coronal dimming going over the pole that was described in an earlier blog post.

The Hangout URL is: https://plus.google.com/events/c99gnf2e4l9vb4n6logpsemkhlo, staring at 2:30 pm ET and going aboit an hour.

CNN featured a picture of the March 29 flare in Pictures of the Week!