Bright Flare, Farside Event (September 28, 2012)

Hi-res TIF (3.8M)

Movies: QT (large) (4.4M), QT (small) (1.0M), MPEG ( 19M), MP4 (4.6M), M4V (2.0M)

STEREO (Behind) caught this very bright flare that must have been a fairly powerful event, given the extended breadth of the "bleeding" of pixels that it produced (Sept. 20, 2012) when viewed in extreme UV light. (By "bleeding" we mean when the electronic detectors are overloaded, the intensity is shifted away from the actual bright source and into pixels in lines on either side of the flaring region.)

A smaller flare occurs near the beginning of the clip, which covers about 14 hours. This active region went on to produce several more flares over the following days. STEREO Behind's position is currently trailing Earth by about 120 degrees, which enables it to see activity that we cannot view from Earth.

SOHO began its Weekly Pick some time after sending a weekly image or video clip to the American Museum of Natural History (Rose Center) in New York City. There, the SOHO Weekly Pick is displayed with some annotations on a large plasma display.

If your institution would also like to receive the same Weekly Pick from us for display (usually in Photoshop or QuickTime format), please send your inquiry to steele.hill@gsfc.nasa.gov.