Solar Orbiter's view of active region AR3664

Watching the side of the Sun that’s facing away from Earth, Solar Orbiter witnessed the hyperactive sunspot cluster AR3664 produce the biggest flare yet of the current solar cycle. This was immediately followed by a burst of energetic particles moving at a significant fraction of the speed of light and a large amount of solar material blasting out in a so-called coronal mass ejection.

AR3664 is the bright lit-up region visible to the lower right of the centre of the solar disc. This GIF consists of observations which were taken on 21 May 2024 by Solar Orbiter's Extreme Ultraviolet Imager at two different wavelengths: 17.4 nanometres (shown in yellow) and 30.4 nanometres (shown in red).

Read more about AR3664's outbursts here