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Sun's April Fools' Day Prank Leaves Solar Scientists Tickled Pink
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The Sun pulled the ultimate April Fools' Day prank that excited the solar community. Solar activity is declining with the projected solar minimum to happen in 2019. With very few flares occurring, solar scientists are concentrating on quit Sun studies. But near the end of April 1st, a small active region, AR12644, burst to life with this energetic Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) and M4.4 flare. Soon after, AR12645 also joined the fray releasing several C-class flares. In all, AR12644 released 7 M-class flares between 1-3 April 2017. Hinode XRT is always prepared to catch a flare. When the Sun becomes too bright, XRT immediately switches to a thicker set of filters (thin-Be, med-Be) and then switches back after the solar flare. In this way, XRT sees some of the hottest plasmas in the solar system.
To learn how flares are classified, watch this video.
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(Prepared by Patricia Jibben)
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