What are solar flares and how do they form?
Solar flares are rapid (sometimes said to be explosive — they last a few minutes) releases of energy in a relatively small area just above the solar surface. Energy is stored-up in the sun’s magnetic field which gets twisted, not unlike twisting up a rubber band. If too much energy (twist) is confined to too small a volume, the magnetic field lines “break” (or “reconnect”) releasing that pent-up energy into heat and fast flows of gas. This produces light, and also, as the newly hot gas slams into the sun’s suface, x-rays and gamma rays. They can also produce high energy electrons and protons that can travel to earth in 10-15 minutes (the light an x-rays take 8 minutes). Dr.
