Chandra X-ray Images of Saturn
X-ray images taken January 20, 2004 from Chandra indicate that Saturn may act as a mirror, reflecting explosive activity from the Sun. Chandra captured the image at left just before a medium-sized flare occurred on the Sun. The image at right coincided with the solar flare and represents the first observation of an X-ray flare reflected from Saturn's low-latitudes.

Scale: 42 arcsec wide
(Credit: NASA/MSFC/CXC/A.Bhardwaj et al.)

GOES-12 X-ray Images of Saturn
X-ray images captured by the GOES Solar X-ray Imager illustrate the difference in the Sun before and after a solar flare. The groundbreaking first observation of X-rays from Saturn's low-latitudes appeared as a direct response to this flare, at left, from a sunspot clearly visible from Saturn and Earth. This flare was classified as an M6. M-class flares are medium-sized, generally causing brief radio blackouts at Earth's polar regions. With nine subdivisions for X-ray flares, an M6 flare is more powerful than those ranked M1 through M5.

(Credit: NOAA/SEC)

Chandra X-ray Image with Scale Bar
Scalebar: 8 arcsec
(Credit: NASA/MSFC/CXC/A.Bhardwaj et al.)