Solar Flares:
A solar flare is a sudden intense brightening of a small part of the Sun's chromosphere in the vicinity of a plage or facula and often near a sunspot group. The flare develops in a few minutes and may last several hours.
Solar flares are explosions of energetic particles and electromagnetic radiation in the outer atmosphere of the sun. Lessons learned from solar explosions apply to much larger explosions that we see elsewhere in the Universe.
Solar flares were first observed by in 1859 by Lord Richard C. Carrington. He wrote that as he was watching the sun with a telescope, he saw "two patches of intensely bright and white light" near a huge group of sunspots.
Solar Flares
This is an image of the sun as seen through a special filter. The strong radiation from a solar flare is seen as a bright spot on the right. Do not look directly at the sun, it can hurt your eyes. Image Credit: NASA ...
Solar flares are areas around sunspots that brighten sharply when seen through a telescope because of an enormous energy release. One of the main characteristics that distinguishes solar flares from other solar events is how suddenly they occur.
Solar flares
Usually associated with sunspots, these are observed as an increase in brightness of areas of hydrogen (known as flocculi) and can give rise to bursts of intense radiation in the ultra-violet region of the Sun's spectrum which cause ...
SOLAR FLARES
A magnetic storm on the Sun's surface which shows up as a sudden increase in brightness.
SOLAR PROMINENCES
Gases trapped at the edge of the Sun which appear to shoot outward from the Sun's surface.
solar flares
Violent eruptions of gas on the Sun's surface.
spectral line
Light given off at a specific frequency by an atom or molecule.
Solar Flares and Magnetic Shear
Click on image for animation.
This region (NOAA Active Region AR6659, June 10, 1991) produced some of the most powerful flares ever recorded and remained active over many days.
Solar flares are classified as A, B, C, M or X according to the peak flux (in watts per square meter, W/m²) of 100 to 800 picometer X-rays near Earth, as measured on the GOES spacecraft.
Solar flares are huge outbursts of solar material, which are several thousand to million kilometers long.
Solar flares are sudden blasts of electromagnetic radiation and charged particles emanating from the surface of the Sun. They are distinct from the everyday solar wind due their association with highly energetic eruptions.
Solar Flares
Another phenomenon occurring in the chromosphere is the solar flare, a sudden and intense brightening in a plage that rises to great brilliance in a few minutes, then fades dramatically in a half hour to several hours.
Solar flares. Referred to as a solar flare, an ordinary one of these eruptions can belch a billion tons of the Sun's atmosphere out across space at a million miles per hour.
Solar Flares
During periods of high solar activity, the Sun commonly releases massive amounts of gas and plasma into its atmosphere. These ejections are known as solar flares. Some solar flares can be truly massive, and contain impressive power.
Solar flares are an example of explosion common on the Sun, and presumably on most other stars as well.
Solar flares and associated Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) strongly influence our local space weather.
Solar flares are eruptions more powerful than surge prominences (a flare is shown in the Sun + planets montage above). They will last only a few minutes to a few hours. A lot of ionized material is ejected in a flare.
More about solar flares...
Solar minimum The lowest level in solar activity. It occurs between solar maxima.
solar flares (NASA Thesaurus / NASA SP-7, 1965) A rapid release of electromagnetic (visible, radio, ultraviolet, x ray) and particulate (protons, electrons) energy from the sun.
Sun
Sunspots and Solar Flares
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The strange case of solar flares and radioactive elements PhysOrg - August 24, 2010
The radioactive decay of some elements sitting quietly in laboratories on Earth seemed to be influenced by activities inside the sun, 93 million miles away.
High energy radiation (energies in excess of 100 keV) observed during large, extremely energetic solar FLARES. GAUSS. The unit of magnetic induction in the cgs (centimeter-gram- second) system. GEOMAGNETIC ELEMENTS.
solar protons Protons emitted by the sun, especially during solar flares. solar radiation The total electromagnetic radiation emitted by the sun.
(c) High-energy charged particles (about 85% protons, 14% -particles, 1% electrons, 7 - 1010 eV) cosmic rays during Solar flares (those of lower energy than this are unobservable from Earth because of Solar system magnetic fields).
The earliest reference to SIDs in the literature is from a paper entitled "Ionospheric effects of solar flares" by Mervyn A. Ellison in the Publications of the Royal Observatory, Edinburgh.
The Sun ejects low-energy (107 - 1010 eV) cosmic rays during Solar flares (those of lower energy than this are unobservable from Earth because of Solar system magnetic fields).
When there are many sunspots visible on the surface of the Sun (at the time of solar maximum), other features such as solar flares and prominences are also visible.
One correlation that is definitely established, and also better understood, is that between solar flares and geomagnetic activity at Earth.
Generated by solar flares or large solar prominences, "coronal transients" (also called coronal mass ejections) are sometimes released.
Solar flares affect all layers of the solar atmosphere , heating Plasma to tens of million Kelvin and accelerating electrons, protons and heavier ions to near the speed of light....
Discovery of Solar Flares
17. The Sun's Corona
18. The Solar Wind
18A. Drawing Interplanetary Magnetic Field Lines.
18H. History: 1959, 1961--First direct observations of the solar wind.
18B. The Heliosphere. New!!!
19. The Magnetopause
19H.
Sunquakes are violent seismic events on the Sun that are caused by solar flares (jets of hot gases ejected thousands of miles from the surface of the Sun).
Quick and coordinated responses to solar flares were considered essential for meeting the scientific objectives of the mission.
Students are introduced to coronal mass ejections, often associated with solar flares, as material coming from the Sun and are shown several video sequences of such coronal mass ejections.
Our Sun is constantly changing, differing in the number of sunspots and solar flares over an 11 year cycle.
On its surface dark sunspots bounded by intense magnetic fields come and go in 11-year cycles, which recent evidence shows may actually be part of longer 19-year cycles; sudden bursts of charged particles from solar flares can cause auroras and ...
SOLAR COSMIC RAYS - Cosmic rays with energies ~107 to 1010 eV, primarily ejected solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CME).
Where magnetic fields are strong, the coronal material cannot flow outward and becomes trapped; thus the high density and temperature above active regions is due partly to trapping and partly to heating processes, mostly solar flares.
In 2371, Grand Nagus Zek talked to a representative of planet which had been affected by solar flares, damaging its agriculture industry. The Ferengi leader agreed to provide the planet with Kohlanese barley. (DS9: "Prophet Motive") ...
Solar flares are much more violent eruptions. They will emit strong X-ray, ultraviolet, visible light and solar wind.
Atomic nuclei that enter earth's atmosphere at nearly the speed of light. Some originate in solar flares, and some may come from supernova explosions, but their true nature is not well understood.
Cosmological Principle ...
At totality, the disc of the Sun is completely obscured by the new Moon, and only the ghostly solar corona and perhaps gigantic solar flares are visible around the edges of the Moon.
A solar flare is a magnetic storm on the sun, which appears to be a very bright spot, and a gaseous surface eruption. Solar flares are classified based upon their x-ray energy output at peak burst intensity.
sunspots and faculae in the photosphere
plages, fibrils, and filaments in the chromosphere
coronal condensations in the corona.
Solar flares are also associated with active regions.
Solar flares and cosmic rays also pose a problem, especially for instruments beyond the protective Van Allen belts.
Size. It is extremely expensive to launch objects into space. Using the Space Shuttle it is about US$20000 per kilogram.
The solar wind and the much higher energy particles ejected by solar flares can have dramatic effects on the Earth ranging from power line surges to radio interference to the beautiful aurora borealis.
reconnection: The process in the sun's atmosphere by which opposing magnetic fields combine and release energy to power solar flares.
red dwarf: Cool, low-mass star on the lower main sequence.
Coronal Mass Ejections
are huge bubbles of gas threaded with magnetic field lines that are ejected over the course of several hours.They are often associated with solar flares and prominence eruptions.
A single CME can carry up to ten billion tons (1013 kilograms) of plasma away from the Sun. Coronal mass ejections were once thought to be initiated by solar flares.
Examples include prominences, which are great arcs of gas that extend outwards from the Sun, and solar flares which are great explosions and jets of gas from the solar surface.
In May I will tell you about the aurora and that requires an understanding of some extra Sun physics, so it's at that point I will teach you about the Sun's magnetic field, sunspots, solar flares and the solar wind.
 See also: Flare, Solar, Flares, Solar flare, Sun
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