XRT observes an X2.8 flare on the 14th (left) and an M6.9 flare on the 15th (right). Click the images to watch the movies of each event or
click here to watch the youtube version
Major Holiday Pops!
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This period towards the end of the year can often be a quiet time at work as people gear up for the holidays. However, the Sun certainly isn't starting a holiday break early and fired off some MAJOR flares including the largest flare so far in solar cycle 25 measured at X2.8. Luckily, XRT was able to observe at least a portion of these ig events. Even better, XRT was operating with a high-cadence program and obtained a rapid series of images from these flares. On the left is the X2.8 flare observed on 12/14 from AR13514. This flare was the biggest so far in solar cycle 25 and produced a large CME along with the flare, which just missed impacting Earth. XRT mainly captured the decay phase, with large loop strucutures visible after the major eruption. AR13514 wasn't done though! It produced two M class (M6.3 and M6.9) flares on 12/15 which can be seen on the right. XRT captured some interesting developmenets in the region that occured before the two M flares. It also observed after the flare pair, showing the dynamic development of this complicated region. A new record has been set for flare levels in solar cycle 25. Will this be the biggest flare of the cycle? Or will it be topped soon by an even bigger event? Let's hope XRT is watching whenver the record is broken next! Keywords: AR Tracking, Flare Filters: Be_Med |
(Prepared by Lucas Guliano)
The XRT instrument team is comprised of SAO, NASA, JAXA, and NAOJ.
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