I like your flare. ☀ The Sun isn’t idle in the sky. Our nearby star is a dynamic object, constantly changing and creating space weather events, such as this solar flare captured by nasasolarsystem’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) on Oct. 2, 2022. Solar flares are intense bursts of radiation coming from the release of magnetic energy on the Sun’s surface. In this image, they are noticeable as the brightest areas of the Sun and can last from minutes to hours. In addition to monitoring the Sun’s activity, we also categorize and classify it. This most recent flare is classified as an X1 flare. An X-class denotes the most intense flares, while the number, which reaches a maximum of nine, provides more information about its strength. 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 & communications signals travel. By studying flares and ...