Gigantic Solar Flares 19 Times Bigger Than Earth Captured in Video

Andrew McCarthy, a resident of Florence, created the video by taking about a million photos of the sun with a special telescope and capturing massive solar flares.

McCarthy claims that the largest of the two flares he photographed ejected material 150,000 miles into space, roughly equivalent to 19 Earths stacked on top of one another.

Solar flares are massive magnetic eruptions that occur in a small area of the sun's atmosphere and emit electromagnetic radiation such as X-rays, visible light, and ultraviolet light.

I spent 7 hours shooting around a million photos of our sun, hoping to capture a solar flare. What I captured was incredible- back to back flares launching material into space! pic.twitter.com/3pXaIulNvm
— Andrew McCarthy (@AJamesMcCarthy) May 8, 2022

McCarthy expressed his delight at seeing the flares, one of which was described as "pretty large." They're quite bright in comparison to the ordinary prominences, so they stood out among the others. McCarthy leaped out of his chair and immediately messaged all of his astronomy colleagues about the incident.

Solar Flares

McCarthy explained that powerful flares can send high-energy particles towards Earth, which can damage satellites and create beautiful auroras as they are guided towards the poles by the earth's magnetic field.

However, because the massive solar flares documented by McCarthy were pointed away from Earth and lasted about 5-10 minutes each, they had no noticeable space weather effects on our planet.

On April 30, 2022, McCarthy took the photos that he used for the time-lapse. While the video itself is only about 30 seconds long, McCarthy shared that it represents about seven hours of solar activity.

Modified Telescope and Training

The astrophotographer's telescope was modified with special filters that allowed him to safely view the sun while also allowing him to see atmospheric details of our star.

McCarthy stressed his point firmly as a warning not to point a telescope at the sun because people have gone blind trying to document solar activities without the proper knowledge.

The astrophotographer is self-taught and has had no professional training but can practice full-time thanks to the support from people who enjoy his work.

McCarthy explained that solar astronomy is his passion and that as the sun becomes more active as it approaches the peak of its 11-year cycle, he will be doing more of these.

Solar Maximum and Minimum

Solar activity is defined by an 11-year cycle with high and low activity periods known as solar maximums and minimums. The number of sunspots increases during solar maximums, and the effects of space weather on the near-Earth environment are more intense, Newsweek reports.

Sunspots are dark regions on the solar surface with particularly strong magnetic fields that appear for a short time. Solar flares and other types of solar eruptions, such as coronal mass ejections, are frequently associated with them.

Currently, experts observe that the sun has more activity as it moves out of a solar minimum and approaches a solar maximum.

McCarthy has been photographing the sun daily and recently captured the largest sunspot cluster he has ever seen. The astrophotographer noted that activity has been on the rise and will continue to rise as we approach solar maximum.

He stated that the universe is incredible and that there is so much to learn about it. The astrophotographer hopes that people who see his work will be inspired to look up more, as humanity is always on the verge of making a major breakthrough.