= RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / NASA/SDO/HANDOUT" - NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS =
This NASA image obtained October 20, 2014 shows a solar flare as it surges off the lower left hand of the sun in this image captured by NASA's SDO on October 19, 2014. The image was captured in extreme ultraviolet wavelength of 131 Angstroms - a wavelength that can see the intense heat of a flare and that is typically colorized in teal. The sun emitted a significant solar flare, peaking at 1:01 a.m. EDT on October 19, 2014. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory, which is always observing the sun, captured an image of the event. Solar flares are powerful bursts of radiation. Harmful radiation from a flare cannot pass through Earth's atmosphere to physically affect humans on the ground, however -- when intense enough -- they can disturb the atmosphere in the layer where GPS and communications signals travel. AFP PHOTO/NASA/SDO/HANDOUT = RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE?- MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / NASA/SDO/HANDOUT" -?NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS =