美国宇航局太空网评出2003年十佳天文图片

3：最强大的太阳耀斑

　　太阳活动周期为11年，科学家曾认为它现在已经过了活动颠峰。但这丝毫没有阻止太阳在11月4日释放有记录以来强度最大的辐射耀斑。每次太阳喷发的历史性时刻到来时，公众和媒体也会密切关注这一系列前所未有的太阳风暴。

　　太阳风暴搅乱了地球的上层大气，并用极光点亮了整个天空。这是太阳十分罕见同时也是闪亮的一刻，当这种壮观的景象被完全展现在电视台的晚间新闻上时，人们不禁担心太阳风暴对卫星和供电设施所造成的潜在损失。最终，3个巨大的太阳黑子在随后的两个星期里引起了10个令人惊讶的大耀斑。两颗日本卫星损坏，火星“奥德赛”号轨道飞行器上的一种设备也因此丢失，欧洲航天局的火星快车探测器的导航系统还一度受到干扰。

3. Largest Solar Flare on Record

The Sun was supposed to be well past the peak in its 11-year cycle of activity. But that didn't stop it from unleashing the most powerful radiation flare on record Nov. 4.

The historical eruption came at a time when the public and media were paying close attention to an unprecedented string of solar storms that pounded our planet's upper atmosphere and lit up the skies with aurora as far south as Texas. It was a rare and shining moment for the Sun, its fury on full display on the evening television news as officials worried about potential damage to satellites and power grids.

In the end, three huge sunspots combined to kick up an amazing string of 10 major flares in two weeks. Two Japanese satellites were knocked out, an instrument on the Mars Odyssey orbiter was lost, and the navigation system of the European Space Agency's Mars Express probe was temporarily disrupted.