NASA Solar Flare

NASA’s SDO Captures Image

of Mid-level Flare
Sept. 5, 2017

The sun emitted a mid-level solar flare, peaking at 4:33 pm EDT on Sept. 4, 2017. NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, which watches the sun constantly, captured an image of the event. Solar flares are powerful bursts of radiation. Harmful radiation from a flare cannot pass through Earth's atmosphere to physically affect humans on the ground, however — when intense enough — they can disturb the atmosphere in the layer where GPS and communications signals travel.