Sun unleashes spectacular solar eruption

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  A burst of solar material leaps off the left side of the sun in what’s known as a prominence eruption. This image combines three images from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory captured on May 3, 2013, at 1:45 pm EDT.NASA/SDO/AIA

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  NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory captured this image of an M5.7-class flare on May 3, 2013, at 1:30 p.m. EDT. This image shows light in the 131-angstrom wavelength, a wavelength of light that can show material at the very hot temperatures of aNASA/SDO/AIA

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An intense solar storm erupted from the sun on Friday in a dazzling space weather display captured by a NASA spacecraft.

The solar flare erupted from the edge the sun, with NASA's powerful Solar Dynamics Observatory snapping photos of the sun storm. The flare peaked at 1:32 p.m. EDT (1732 GMT), registering as a relatively medium-strength M5.7-class event.

Friday's solar storm was the second major space weather event in three days, but was not aimed at Earth. According to astronomer Phil Plait, who chronicled the flare on his Bad Astronomy blog, the solar storm launched super-hot solar plasma about 120,000 miles above the surface of the sun before it faded from view.

The sun fired off a May Day solar eruption on Wednesday, May 1, from the same region, which is currently at the very leftmost edge (or limb) of the sun as seen by the Solar Dynamics Observatory. The active region will be rotating to face Earth soon, mission scientists said.

"Increased number of flares are quite common at the moment, as the sun's normal 11-year activity cycle is ramping up toward solar maximum, which is expected in late 2013," NASA officials said in a statement.

The strongest solar flare of the year occurred on April 11 and registered as an M6.5-class sun storm, still a mid-level event. Scientists classify solar flares based on their intensity. M-class solar flares are medium-strength events that are the weakest type of storm that can still have an impact on Earth. When aimed directly at Earth, they can super-charge the planet's aurora displays.

The strongest type of solar flare are X-class sun storms. When aimed directly at Earth, X-class solar flares can pose a threat to spacecraft and astronauts in space. They can also interfere with communications and GPS navigation signals, and cause radio blackouts.

A radio short-lived radio blackout was caused by the Friday solar flare, but subsided quickly, NASA officials said.

The sun's current solar weather cycle is known as Solar Cycle 24. The Solar Dynamics Observatory is one of several spacecraft constantly monitoring the sun to track its solar weather events.

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Curiosity sleeps as solar eruption barrels toward Mars

LOS ANGELES –  Curiosity hunkered down after the sun unleashed a blast that raced toward Mars.

While the hardy rover was designed to withstand punishing space weather, its handlers decided to power it down as a precaution since it suffered a recent computer problem.

"We're being more careful," project manager Richard Cook of the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory said Wednesday.

While Curiosity slept, the Opportunity rover and two NASA spacecraft circling overhead carried on with normal activities.

On Tuesday, scientists noticed a huge flare erupting from the sun that hurled a stream of radiation in Mars' direction. The solar burst also spawned a cloud of superheated gas that barreled toward the red planet at 2 million mph.

'We'll be watching and seeing what happens.'

- Roger Gibbs, JPL deputy manager for the Mars exploration program

The eruption did not appear severe or extreme, but "middle of the road, all things considered" said space weather chief Bob Rutledge at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The solar tempest was not expected to have an impact on Earth. In the past, such outbursts have triggered solar storms with the ability to disrupt utility grids, airline flights, satellite networks and GPS services. They're also known to produce shimmering auroras in places farther from the poles.

Since Mars lacks a planet-wide magnetic field, it does not experience geomagnetic storms. Rather, the planet sees a spike in radiation, Rutledge said.

Powerful solar blasts can cause trouble to Mars spacecraft. In 2003, an intense solar flare knocked out the radiation detector on the Odyssey orbiter.

NASA does not expect similar drama from the latest solar activity.

In the worst-case scenario, one or more of the working Mars spacecraft may enter "safe mode" in which science activities are halted but they remain in contact with Earth.

"We'll be watching and seeing what happens," said Roger Gibbs, JPL deputy manager for the Mars exploration program.

The unsettled space weather comes as Curiosity is recovering from a memory hiccup that put its science experiments on hold. It was the first major problem to hit the car-size rover since it landed last year in an ancient crater near the Martian equator to hunt for the chemical building blocks of life.

Engineers were in the middle of troubleshooting when they decided to wait for the weather to pass. The delay means it'll take longer for Curiosity to return to analyzing the pinch of rock powder it collected from a recent drilling.

Since its instruments are turned off, it can't use its radiation sensor to track the solar particles.

"It's just bad timing," Cook said.

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