When light (photons) from an astronomical object passes through the Earth's atmosphere, it scatters off particles. These particles like to scatter blue light more than they do red light, so "bluer" photons (those with shorter wavelengths) tend to get scattered, and "redder" photons (those with longer wavelengths) pass through. So, astronomical objects look redder from Earth than they would from space, because the redder wavelengths from the objects penetrate the atmosphere better than the bluer ones.

Incidentally, this is why the sky is blue. Blue light from the Sun is scattered in all directions on its way to the Earth.

Flares are characterized by their brightness in X-rays (X-Ray flux), the GEOS Class. The biggest flares are X-Class flares. They are major events that can trigger radio blackouts around the whole world and long-lasting radiation storms in the upper atmosphere.
M-Class flares have a tenth the energy. They generally cause brief radio blackouts that affect Earth's polar regions. Minor radiation storms sometimes follow an M-class flare.
C-Class flares have a tenth of the X-ray flux seen in M-Class flares. They have with few noticeable consequences here on Earth.

Originally posted by OneNationUnder
reply to post by brokenheadphonez

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Well there's the crop circle "bird" design.

So this "B" may lead to an X...planet X?