IRIS Movie of the Day
At least once a week a movie of the Sun taken by NASA's Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) is posted by one of the scientists operating the instrument.
IRIS captures largest flare of the solar cycle!
Credit: IRIS, LMSAL/NASA, Vanessa Polito
On Oct. 3 2024, the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) captured the largest solar flare in 7 years and in this solar cycle so far! The powerful X9 flare is visible in this IRIS movie as the sudden appearance of intense elongated brightenings, called flare ribbons. The IRIS slit captured the flare dynamics at ultra high cadence (0.3s), making this unique dataset the highest cadence spectroscopic observation ever of such a large flare with IRIS! Solar flares of this magnitude can drive spectacular phenomena such as Northern Lights, but can also cause severe disruptions to radio communications and electric grids, and pose risks to astronauts and spacecrafts. Solar scientists analyze high resolution observations from satellites such IRIS to help unravel the mysteries behind these highly energetic events.