APOD 2.3

The picture of the day is actually a video of a solar flare. When I watched it I was in a trance. Solar flares happen unpredictably and are tremendously hot. A solar flare is a magnetic storm on the Sun which appears to be a very bright spot and a gaseous surface eruption. They release huge amounts of high energy particles and gases into the solar system and can affect satellites, astronauts, and even power grids on Earth! This particular flare is classified as an X-flare which is ridiculously big. These type of flares can be responsible for radio blackouts all over the Earth as well as radiation storms. Solar flares can also be responsible for sunquakes. Sunquakes are violent seismic events on the Sun.When a sunquake occurs, energy is released in seismic waves on the relatively fluid surface of the Sun. Sunquakes would rate about 11.3 on the Richter scale. These huge quakes release about 40,000 times more energy than the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.