Xiaoli Yan

On December 31, 2023, the Sun unleashed a flare of the highest class — one that releases the energy of billions of atomic bombs in just a few minutes. Along with it, a huge prominence, a cloud of superheated gas, tore away from the surface and shot outward at nearly 3000 kilometers per second.

The Sun sometimes produces flares — bright explosions that hurl streams of charged particles into space. On April 22, 2021, one such flare occurred in an active region where a dark sunspot was crossed by a bright "bridge" of hotter gas.