The sun emitted a significant solar flare, peaking at 7:28 p.m. EST on Dec. 19, 2014. NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, which watches the sun constantly, captured an image of the event. Solar flares are powerful bursts of radiation.
The Horsehead is only one small feature in the Orion Molecular Cloud Complex, dominated in the center of this view by the brilliant Flame nebula (NGC 2024). The smaller, glowing cavity falling between the Flame nebula and the Horsehead is called NGC 2023. These regions are about 1,200 light-years away.
From the International Space Station, Expedition 42 Flight Engineer Terry W. Virts took this photograph of the Gulf of Mexico and U.S. Gulf Coast at sunset and posted it to social media on Dec. 14, 2014. The space station and its crew orbit Earth from an altitude of 220 miles.
Featured Images November 2014 Our Sun’s Plasma Ballet A tangled mass of plasma, controlled by powerful magnetic forces, swirled out above the solar surface on Nov. 9, 2014, twisting and turning before it streamed back into the Sun. The sliding plasma possesses a kind of ballet-like quality of gracefulness over a four-hour period. This video …
