NASA's SDO captured this image of a mid-level solar flare, an M5.7-class on Nov. 16, 2014.
NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory captured this image of a mid-level solar flare – as seen in the bright flash on the left – from Nov. 16, 2014. The image shows a subset of extreme ultraviolet light that highlights the very hot material in flares and which is typically colorized in teal. Credit: NASA/SDO
This flare emerged from an active region, named AR2209, that rotated over the left side of the sun on Nov. 13, 2014. This active region previously known as AR2192, traversed across the front of the sun during the last two weeks on October, when it was the largest sunspot in 24 years. This time around it is one third of its previous size.