Solar Flare

From Ascension Glossary
Revision as of 02:13, 21 June 2015 by Lisa (talk | contribs)

A Solar Flare is a burst of light, radiation and intelligent energy which erupts from the sun’s magnetic atmosphere. Solar flares affect all layers of the solar atmosphere, when the plasma is heated into millions of kelvins, the flares produce radiation across the Electromagnetic Field spectrum at all wavelengths. These light frequencies range from radio waves to gamma rays, although most of the energy is spread over frequencies outside the visible spectrum to the naked eye.

Solar Flares affect all layers of the solar atmosphere (photosphere, chromosphere, and corona), when the plasma medium is heated to tens of millions of kelvin, while the electrons, protons, and heavier ions are accelerated to near the speed of light. They produce radiation across the electromagnetic spectrum at all wavelengths, from radio waves to gamma rays, although most of the energy is spread over frequencies outside the visual range and for this reason the majority of the flares are not visible to the naked eye and must be observed with special instruments. Flares occur in active regions around sunspots, where intense magnetic fields penetrate the photosphere to link the corona to the solar interior. Flares are powered by the sudden release of magnetic energy stored in the corona.

Reference

November 2013 Newsletter

Further Information

Wikipedia