# Amazing picture of a 2012 solar flare

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-picture-of-a-2012-solar-flare/775313>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [December 21, 2016, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-picture-of-a-2012-solar-flare/775313 "2016-12-21T18:42:20Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\
**Post date:** [December 21, 2016, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-picture-of-a-2012-solar-flare/775313/1 "2016-12-21T18:42:20Z")

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[![](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_flare#/media/File:Magnificent_CME_Erupts_on_the_Sun_-_August_31.jpg) ](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_flare#/media/File:Magnificent_CME_Erupts_on_the_Sun_-_August_31.jpg)

From here: [Solar flare - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_flare)

Just… wow.

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**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\
**Post date:** [December 21, 2016, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-picture-of-a-2012-solar-flare/775313/2 "2016-12-21T18:52:18Z")

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That’s a beauty! Thanks for posting it.

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**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\
**Post date:** [December 22, 2016, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-picture-of-a-2012-solar-flare/775313/3 "2016-12-22T04:00:56Z")

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Impressive.

At a rough guess, that flare’s length is 35 to 40 earth diameters.

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**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\
**Post date:** [December 22, 2016, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amazing-picture-of-a-2012-solar-flare/775313/4 "2016-12-22T11:31:01Z")

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Wow, thanks. The spacecraft that took that image has been in geosynchronous orbit since 2010, and is part of this series of NASA missions:

“Living With a Star (LWS) is a NASA scientific program to study those aspects of the connected Sun-Earth system that directly affect life and society.”