MYTH: Solar flares have no effect on Earth.(01 of09)
Open Image ModalREALITY: Solar flares can release electromagnetic radiation that's strong enough to disrupt electric power grids, satellites, GPS, and radio communications. Pictured: Coronal mass ejection as viewed by the Solar Dynamics Observatory on June 7, 2011. (credit:NASA/SDO)
MYTH: A solar flare could kill us all.(02 of09)
Open Image ModalREALITY: Only a tiny fraction of the energy liberated by a solar flare reaches the Earth, because we're protected by our planet's atmosphere. "We have a very long record that shows that even the strongest flares can't blow out the atmosphere," Antti Pulkkinen, a research scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, told CNN.Pictured: A solar eruptive prominence as seen in extreme UV light on March 30, 2010 with Earth superimposed for a sense of scale. (credit:NASA/SDO)
MYTH: Solar flares occur at random.(03 of09)
Open Image ModalREALITY: Solar flares follow an 11-year cycle.Pictured: Full-disk images of the sun's lower corona during solar cycle 23, as it progressed from solar minimum to maximum conditions and back to minimum (upper right). (credit:SOHO/ESA/NASA)
MYTH: 'Aftershocks' are rare.(04 of09)
Open Image ModalREALITY: About one in seven flares is followed by an aftershock -- the flare springs back to life, producing an extra surge of ultraviolet radiation.Pictured: Sunspot 1112, crackling with solar flares, spotted by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory on October 16, 2010. (credit:NASA/SDO)
MYTH: Solar flares were discovered only recently.(05 of09)
Open Image ModalREALITY: Solar flares were first observed in 1859 by English astronomer Richard Carrington.Pictured: Sunspots of September 1, 1859 as sketched by Richard Carrington. (credit:Wikimedia: Public Domain)
MYTH: Solar flares are small compared to other explosions in our solar system.(06 of09)
Open Image ModalMYTH: Solar flares can knock satellites from orbit.(07 of09)
Open Image ModalREALITY: When satellites do fall out of orbit, it's because Earth's gravity is pulling them down.Pictured: Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) image of an M7.9 class solar flare on March 13, 2012. (credit:NASA/SDO)
MYTH: Solar flares produce sunspots.(08 of09)
Open Image ModalREALITY: It's actually the other way around. Magnetic fields associated with sunspots -- cool, dark regions of the sun's surface -- can sometimes give rise to solar flares.Pictured: NASA's sun-observing TRACE spacecraft image shows a large sunspot group from September 2000. (credit:NASA/TRACE)
MYTH: Solar flares and solar prominences are different names for the same phenomenon.(09 of09)
Open Image ModalREALITY: Solar flares and prominences are different. A prominence is a loop of plasma traveling along magnetic field lines. Sometimes this loop collapses back into the sun -- or, if the prominence erupts, a solar flare can result.Pictured: A solar prominence on October 19, 2012, captured by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). (credit:NASA/SDO/Steele Hill)