What is a solar flare?
Though scientists are not sure of what causes solar flares, they do know that they are bursts of electromagnetic radiation. These bursts, which appear in an 11-year cycle, produce radio waves which penetrate the Earth’s atmosphere, often disrupting radio transmissions on Earth. We think the energy for a solar flare comes from the magnetic energy associated with strong fields on the Sun.
A solar flare is an eruption on the surface of the Sun that releases particles and radiation toward Earth. This can cause static on radio frequencies used for navigation by boats and planes. Read more about the Sun in SPACE.com’s solar data sheet. Space weather forecasters had to estimate its intensity, X-22 on a scale that only goes to 20, after sensors on the NOAA satellite could no longer measure the flare that occurred at 5:52 p.m. EST. The solar eruption caused static on radio frequencies used to navigate boats and planes. Meanwhile, powerful clouds of charged gas particles from an intense solar storm arrived at Earth this weekend, producing aurorae at latitudes as far south as the Texas-Mexico border. Aurorae, the result of the interaction between Earth’s magnetic field and “plasma” or charged gas clouds emitted by the Sun, generally are best viewed in polar regions. But astrophotographer Chris Grohusko caught the northern lights on film near El Paso, Texas, around 4 a.m. local t
Solar flares are sudden releases of energy on the solar surface lasting several minutes to a few hours. Most of them cannot be seen by changes in their optical light, but only by light produced by specific elements such as hydrogen or calcium. Flares occur when magnetic fields on the Sun’s surface get tangled and ‘reconnect’. This is like rubber bands stretched taught being broken. This causes plasma near by to be heated to very high temperatures, sometimes exceeding 50 million degrees C. Solar flares can release more energy than thousands of hydrogen bombs. Although the most powerful ‘X-class’ flares are rare, the sun produces hundreds of micro-flares every day.
A flare is defined as a sudden, rapid, and intense variation in brightness. A solar flare occurs when magnetic energy that has built up in the solar atmosphere is suddenly released. Radiation is emitted across virtually the entire electromagnetic spectrum, from radio waves at the long wavelength end, through optical emission to x-rays and gamma rays at the short wavelength end. The amount of energy released is the equivalent of millions of 100-megaton hydrogen bombs exploding at the same time! The first solar flare recorded in astronomical literature was on September 1, 1859. Two scientists, Richard C. Carrington and Richard Hodgson, were independently observing sunspots at the time, when they viewed a large flare in white light. As the magnetic energy is being released, particles, including electrons, protons, and heavy nuclei, are heated and accelerated in the solar atmosphere. The energy released during a flare is typically on the order of 1027 ergs per second. Large flares can emit
Solar flares are mass ejections from the surface of the Sun caused by the spontaneous reconnection of magnetic field lines. Solar flares are so violent that they would be capable of incinerating entire continents if the Earth were held close to them. Solar flares pose a danger to astronauts due to the energetic particles they release over long distances. Like some other energetic astronomical events, solar flares release massive amounts of energy across the entire electromagnetic spectrum, from the longest — wavelength radio to the shortest — wavelength gamma rays. Solar flares tend to occur in active regions around sunspots, and their frequency matches the intensity of sunspots at any given time, ranging between once a week to several per day. Solar flares are powerful enough to temporarily disrupt long-range radio communication on Earth. The magnetic reconnection events that power solar flares take place on timescales of minutes to tens of minutes. Solar flares are related to Coronal
