The sun's only visible active region sputtered and spurted and eventually unleashed a small (C-class) flare (Feb. 7, 2018). The flare appears as a brief, bright flash about mid-way through the half-day clip. Normally, we do not pay much attention to flares this small, but it was just about the only real solar activity over the past week as the sun is slowly approaching its quiet period of the 11-year solar cycle. These images were taken in a wavelength of extreme ultraviolet light.

Movies
PIA22244_Cflare_304_Jan_big.mp4
PIA22244_Cflare_304_Jan_sm.mp4

SDO is managed by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland, for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. Its Atmosphere Imaging Assembly was built by the Lockheed Martin Solar Astrophysics Laboratory (LMSAL), Palo Alto, California.