Here is an interesting story!
A NASA satellite called Fermi and dedicated to watching the entire sky for high energy gamma-ray events, picked up the highest energy ever recorded from an eruption on the Sun. On March 7, 2012, there was a major solar flare eruption on the Sun - see my blogs of 3-7 and 3-8 on this solar flare.
As related by NASA, "The powerful March 7 flare, which earned a classification of X5.4 based on the peak intensity of its X-rays, is the strongest eruption so far observed by Fermi's Large Area Telescope (LAT). The flare produced such an outpouring of gamma rays -- a form of light with even greater energy than X-rays -- that the sun briefly became the brightest object in the gamma-ray sky."
With solar maximum expected to reach its peak in the next year or so perhaps Fermi will spot other record breaking solar flare events.
Read More ABout It: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/GLAST/news/highest-energy.html
Sky Guy in VA
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