Date: 31 Oct 2003
Copyright: SOHO/EIT (ESA & NASA)

Active region 10486 on the Sun, which was already under close scrutiny by several instruments on board SOHO and other satellites, as well as numerous ground observatories, started up a spectacular two-part show in the morning on Tuesday 28 October 2003.

An X 17.2 flare, the second largest flare observed by SOHO, set off a strong high energy proton event and a fast-moving Coronal Mass Ejection (CME), hitting the Earth early on Wednesday 29 October. The encore came on Wednesday afternoon, when an X 10.0 flare from the same active region set off another round of particles and another fast-moving CME.

This movie is composed of observations by the Extreme ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (EIT) on board SOHO, taken through a filter at 195 Ångström. The frame is centred on active region 10486 on the Sun's surface. The movie starts right before the first flare on 28 October and ends just after the second flare on 29 October. Following each flare the subsequent shower of energetic particles hitting the instrument's detectors is apparent from the bright streaks in the images.

See the related videos for movies of the two CMEs and of active region 10486 on the Sun's disk.