Flares and More Flares

Over the course of three days (Mar. 5-7, 2012), a single, large active region blasted out over a dozen solar flares. STEREO (Behind) spacecraft caught the action in extreme UV light. Saving the best for last, it erupted with an X5 flare (X is the largest category) and a storm of charged particles as part of a coronal mass ejection. We'll be tracking this region around the far side of the Sun with STEREO and be ready if the Sun's rotation carries the existing activity back into view around March 28th. The particles near the end of the clip look like a mass of squiggling amoeba, a distortion caused by STEREO's image processing. And note, a large prominence dancing above the edge of the Sun adds a nice touch to the video.

• 304B_flares_best.mov   
• 304B_flares_small.mov   
• 304B_flares_best.mpg   
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