Amazing Images Of The 2012 Solar Storm From Space (PHOTOS)

A solar storm created a dazzling light show in the northern latitudes of Earth on Tuesday. The storm also bombarded the Earth with radiation in the form of solar protons. The radiation storm is the largest of its kind since 2005 but still ranks only a three on the scale of one to five, enough to be considered "strong" but not "severe".

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• Amazing Images Of The 2012 Solar Storm

  This Jan. 23, 2012 image provided by NASA, captured by the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), shows an M9-class solar flare erupting on the Sun's northeastern hemisphere at 03:49 UT, just 4 days after a previous strong CME that sparked aurora around the world on the 22nd. A very fast coronal mass ejection (CME) traveling four million miles per hour (6.4 million kilometers per hour, is headed towards the Earth. A rush of radiation in the form of solar protons already has begun bombarding the Earth and is likely to continue through Wednesday. The radiation storm is the largest of its kind since 2005 but still ranks only a three on the scale of one to five, enough to be considered "strong" but not "severe". Credit: NASA / Getty Images

• Amazing Images Of The 2012 Solar Storm

  This colorized NASA image, taken Monday, Jan. 23, 2012, from the Solar Dynamics Observatory, shows a flare shooting out of the top of the sun. It was taken in a special teal wavelength to best see the flare. Credit: NASA / AP

• Amazing Images Of The 2012 Solar Storm

  This Jan. 19, 2012 image provided by NASA shows an M3.2 solar flare captured by the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). An earth-directed coronal mass ejection was associated with the solar flare. NASA's Space Weather Services estimated that it traveled at over 630 miles per second and reached the Earth on Jan. 21, when strong geomagnetic storms and aurora were observed. Credit: NASA / Getty Images

• Amazing Images Of The 2012 Solar Storm

  This Jan. 23, 2012 NASA Solar and Heliosphere Observatory (SOHO) image shows a current view of sunspots 1402(R-TOP) and 1402(R). Early Monday at appoximately 0359 GMT, sunspot 1402 unleashed a long duration M-classs solar flare. Credit: NASA / Getty Images

To see more great photography visit HuffPost Exposure.

Comments

[muffinheaded ass]

09:12 AM on 02/10/2012

omg is it actualy gonna end soon i tried so hard to study and all my hard work will go to waist nooooo the world is gonna end soon nooo i want my bf that means our marriage is over :(

[doorlie]

03:11 AM on 01/30/2012

By the end of Gingrich's 8th term, second trimester, he will have summer camps on the sun. No one wants to put America back on top like Newt the Grand and the Dios Mio.

[Phil Lunney]

10:48 PM on 01/28/2012

Do you think the sun wants a piece of this Global Warming action?

[TheLibraryOfCodex]

06:58 PM on 01/28/2012

Oh Mighty Sun, I bow to your power!

[Al Schrader]

04:27 PM on 01/28/2012

The solar flares are caused by meteorite impacts. The slow moving ones appear as small comets, but there are bigger very high speed nickel-iron ones that impact, then melt and spread out.
This appears as "spots" because the melting cools the solar surface....Alfie-

[William Blomberg]

02:11 PM on 01/29/2012

Really?? I haven't heard that one. Many of them are much too large to be caused by any type of meteor, which would have melted/dissintigrated long before it hit the surface of the sun. Also, how does that explain the 11 year cycle of when the sun goes through periods of heavy sun spot activity that we are now in?

Any links to that about meteor impacts, Al?

[Al Schrader]

05:47 PM on 01/29/2012

Actually William, the eleven year cycle was my first clue that the Sun spots were caused by large very fast magnetic nickel-iron meteors. The slower comets can be easily seen impacting the Sun, but there are larger very fast asteroid sized pieces that zip in at fractions of the speed of light. The large rocks are somehow on an eleven year orbit that takes them near our solar system, well, every eleven years. I don't know where they originate, only that they do.
You see, magnetism can only exist at low temperatures. Nearly all Sun spots indicate magnetic fields and cold iron pieces in the process of meltng and spreading out.

The thing that causes gravity, a particle called the graviton, travels at much higher speeds than the speed of light(c). Gravity works by these particles bumping into matter.
A rock traveling in a straight line from beyond Pluto would gain incredible speed as it raced towards the Sun propelled by gravitons. Such rocks would be nearly impossible to see with eye detecting telescopes in the same manner that you can't see a bullet...Al-

[oneeasyrider]

09:48 PM on 02/01/2012

Interesting idea, Al. But as you can see if you follow the link, even if earth crashed into the sun it wouldn't create anything the size of a solar flare.

http://images.funadvice.com/photo/image/old/39032/Sun__Earth_size_comparison_labeled.jpg

[muypro7]

04:08 PM on 01/27/2012

Throughout human occupation on earth ,there have been numerous and violent natural disasters that have put fears and tears in our persons while on our finite sojourn into infinity. There have been more human deaths and atrocities done by humans themselves then by all combined natural disaters . Whats up with that?

[StephenJK]

09:44 AM on 01/27/2012

Girl look at that celestial body....Girl look at that celestial body...Girl look at that celestial body....The sun is sexy and it knows it.

[mamacat]

05:04 AM on 01/27/2012

Mentioning this here because it is astronomy related: just within the last 24 hours, a relatively small near-earth-asteroid has been discovered. It has been labeled "2012 BX34", it is about 14 meters in diameter, and will pass about 1/5th the distance to the moon on January 27th, according to NASA/JPL.

At least this one was discovered before it's moment of closest approach to the Earth; often times these things are not noticed until they have passed and are moving away. The next time this particular asteroid comes close to the Earth will be in 2014, but it is not forecast to come as close that time as it does this time.

[Psysok]

01:48 PM on 01/26/2012

It looks like this U-Haul truck graphic featuring solar storms. http://www.uhaul.com/SuperGraphics/49/Venture-Across-America-and-Canada-Modern/Colorado

[darkmark]

01:23 PM on 01/26/2012

that first picture makes me wonder if this is where the idea of an angry god came from

[Kritikos]

10:51 AM on 01/26/2012

Wonders.

[tgodfrey1102]

10:21 AM on 01/26/2012

The mayans were right--RUN HENNY PENNY, RUN

[lifeandvictory]

11:53 AM on 01/26/2012

Don't know about the mayans but things aren't right . . http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fusq5yrQ0jw&list=UUgm2Pr7FTSaoH6_2vlm7fqA&index=2&feature=plpp_video

[Jjexpress1564]

09:48 AM on 01/26/2012

Everyone thinks the world is going to end because the myhin calander stops, You are all wrong think about the single person making the calander's 4 thousand years ahead 12 months a year and an avg. of 30 days a month, maybe he just got tired of making it or his family was killed you don't know what happen, just because it stops doesn't mean anything, the bible said no one will know when the world will end, and if you belive in it, then your a hippocrit.

[ericab817]

10:44 AM on 01/26/2012

I believe that nobody will know when the world will "end"...like the bible says, however, the Mayan's calendar ended on Dec. 21, 2012. It may not mark the end of the world, but the reason that date is important is because it is the day that marks when the earth, sun, and milky way will be in complete alignment...the last time that happened was 26,000 years ago which coincides with the last Ice Age, and before that scientists believe was the age of water, possibly the great flood that was documented in the bible, and in many other cultures around the world at that time...there is no doubt in my mind that although the world will still be here on Dec. 22, 2012, that there may be a natural disaster of some sort that could kill off a very large part of our population on Dec. 21, 2012...so what the world will look like on the 22nd is anyones guess...but it does stand to reason that the Mayan's knew about naturally occuring cycles within our universe...one was water, one was ice, and it only makes sense that when this cycle happens again in December we will be in for a huge catastrophe...

[Al Schrader]

04:20 PM on 01/28/2012

Dec 21st, 2012 is a significant day. It comes before Saturday Dec 22nd. Saturday is the start of the weekend.....Al-

[Fatalischarmer360]

11:13 AM on 01/26/2012

Exactly. It's ridiculous to think that anyone can predict the end of the world.

[no1homeboy]

09:14 AM on 01/26/2012

Should we:

a. Blame Bush if it's bad.
b. Credit Obama if it's good...

[Rusteia]

08:59 AM on 01/26/2012

amazing!