On July 19^th 2000 at about 6:30 UT began one of the most powerful flares of the present solar cycle. This flare was a M6-class, its size exceeded 200000 km. The first and the last image of this animation are separated by 4 hours. The size of the largest dark spot is comparable to those of the Earth.

Several events are visible in this animation. At the beginning, a local flare occurs beside the largest dark spot, ejecting an dark eruptive prominence. Then the major flare occurs, the second dark spot (at right) clearly being at the origin of the ejection of bright matter. At the end, another smaller flare is visible, in the same place as the first one, causing another rapid prominence.