=RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE-MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO/NASA/HANDOUT" - NO MARKETING NO ADVETISING CAMPAIGNS-DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS=
This NASA Earth Observatory image obtained November 8, 2013 shows on November 5, 2013, when the Sun brightened when an X-class solar flare?the largest so far this year?burst from a large, active sunspot. The flare followed a series of more than a two dozen flares that have occurred since October 21, 2013 though the November 5, 2013 flare originated in a different active region. The event was classified an X3.3 flare, falling into the category of most intense explosions. This view of the flare comes from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), and it shows the Sun in extreme ultraviolet light (blending 193 and 131 angstrom observations). The long streak of light is likely due to solar protons saturating the imager. The unusual color is due to the blending of false colors that are assigned to each wavelength by solar physicists to distinguish the different bands. The image is from 5:12 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (22:12 UTC), the peak of the short flare. The eruption that produced this flare also sent out a coronal mass ejection (CME), which is a mass of charged particles and magnetic field energy that bursts from the Sun like a volcanic eruption. AFP PHOTO/NASA/HANDOUT =RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE-MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO/NASA/HANDOUT" - NO MARKETING NO ADVETISING CAMPAIGNS-DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS=