ESA’s Proba-2 small Sun-watcher catches spectacular solar flare

ESA’s Proba-2 small Sun-watcher was among the flotilla of satellites on watch as the Sun erupted spectacularly this week.

After years of relative quietness, the Sun is waking up. Tuesday 7 June saw a medium-class M2.5 solar flare, associated with a proton storm, a coronal mass ejection that glanced past Earth on Thursday 9 June and an accompanying burst of radio energy.

ESA’s Proba-2 satellite was launched in November 2009, during the most inactive period of the solar cycle, but now the Sun is growing more active as it progresses towards ‘solar max’, expected in 2013.