X Flare

I'm glad that I now have access to calibrated data from SDO so I can examine features on the sun in ways that I want rather than relying on uncalibrated jpeg crap.

I'm not too keen on the "exciting" events like today's X4.9 blast, but it sure is a pretty sight.  Here's an image taken by SDO with the 1600A filter at 00:45 UTC on 25 Feb 2014:

An X4.9 boomer at 00:45 UTC

I've played with the scaling to bring out that cool-looking loop structure and added false color to show off features that may otherwise not be noticeable.

The width of that outer loop is about 37,400km (three Earth diameters).  Do you feel small yet?

I also like the fact that this event was so bright that it caused internal reflections in the optics.

An hour later, this region is still "glowing":

Same region at 01:45 UTC

Same scale, same false-color.