Multimedia Resources

Pictures

[sohoflare2000.gif] A powerful solar flare was seen on July 14, 2000 and captured in this image by the SOHO satellite. The image shows many complex active regions and loops of magnetism on the solar surface. The bright spot near the center is the light from the flare event. This flare was classified as X-5.

[traceflare.jpg] A powerful X-17 solar flare on September 5, 2005 was seen by the TRACE satellite. The image shows magnetic loops rising from the solar surface near a large sunspot group. The loops are like magnetic pipes that contain plasma at temperatures of 100,000 C. When these loops are forced together, their opposite polarities cause a suden change in the shape of the magnetic field. This releases magnetic energy which thgen heats the plasma to millions of degrees in the bright sections sen in this image.

[sohoapril2001.jpg] This solar flare was observed by the SOHO satellite on April 2, 2001.

[flarehalpha.jpg] This is a telescopic image of a solar flare obtained in the light of the element hydrogen from a ground-based observatory. It shows a nearly top down view of the flare so that the loops of magnetic field look like dark filaments. This is because these loops contain plasma that is cooler than the solar surface so that they absorbe some of the solar light from below them. The flaring region is about the size of Earth.

[flarediagram.gif] This is a diagram of what a flaring region looks like close-up, based on data from the RHESSI satellite. It shows the basic components of a flaring region. The soft X-ray sources are regions within the magnetic loop where 100,000 degree plasma is located and which produces low-energy X-rays detected by the satellite. The hard X-ray regions contain plasma at temperatures of millions of degrees. These regions are where beams or currents of accelerated protons and electrons collide with the colder plasma. The source of these currents is in the 'Energy release site' where magnetic fields are being destroyed and reconfigured, releasing enormous amounts of stored magnetic energy.

[november2003.gif] This is a SOHO image of the tremendous X-40 solar flare on November 4, 2003.

[tracejune2000.gif] On 6 June 2000, TRACE observed two X-class flares (the largest, most intense class of solar flares). This image is a composite image showing a combination of the white-light, ultraviolet, and extreme-ultraviolet images. In red, it shows the ultraviolet continuum, which shows the small-scale magnetic fields at the surface as yellow/orange dots; a white-light image was blended in to show the location of the large, dark sunspots. The green-white image shows the location of the bright coronal loops. Note that the flare site runs over the middle of the central spot complex (in which two polarities are joined in one structure), and that they reach out toward the lower small spot as well as to a ridge between the polarities running northward from the center.

[august1972.jpg] The August 4, 1972 solar flare is one of the most powerful flares since the 1960's. This photo taken by a ground-based telescope shows the many magnetic loops that were 'activated' by the release of the energy

[flarefig.jpg] This figure shows more of the details of what happens after a large solar flare erupts according to data obtained by the RHESSI satellite. The fastest coronal mass ejections - those moving at 1 to 5 million miles per hour (1.6 to 8 million kilometers per hour) - are linked directly to large solar flares. Large sunspot groups can create multiply-flaring magnetic loops that launch billion-ton clouds of plasma into space. When some of these clouds, called coronal mass ejections (CMEs) reach Earth, they cause brilliant aurora and many severe space weather events.

[carrington.jpg] The first solar flare ever observed was detected by astronomer Richard Carrington on September 2, 1859 as he was sketching a large sunspot. The flare lasted 20 minutes and could be seen with the naked eye. Most flares are invisible in ordinary 'white light'.

Movies

[flareWave.mpeg] On May 27, 1998, scientists showed for the first time that solar flares produce seismic waves, and gigantic seismic quakes, in the Sun's interior. Using data from the Michelson Doppler Imager onboard the European Space Agency/NASA Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO), Stanford and Glasgow scientists have tracked these seismic waves and found that "sun-quakes" closely resemble earthquakes on our planet. The researchers observed a flare-generated solar quake that contained about 40,000 times the energy released in the great earthquake that devastated San Francisco in 1906. The amount of energy released was enough to power the United States for 20 years at its current level of consumption, and was equivalent to an 11.3 magnitude quake on Earth.This is a movie consisting of REAL DATA. The details you see are not created by artists or animators!

[August1972.mpeg] The great flare of August 7th, 1972. This is an example of a "two-ribbon" flare in which the flaring region appear as two bright lines threading through the area between sunspots within a sunspot group. This particular flare, the "seahorse flare," produced radiation levels that would have been harmful to astronauts if a moon mission had been in progress at the time.

[SOHO2003.mpg] SOHO X17 flare October 28, 2003. Active region 10486, already under close scrutiny by several instruments on SOHO and other satellites, as well as numerous ground observatories, started up a spectacular two-part show in the morning on Tuesday 28 October 2003. An X 17.2 flare, the second largest flare observed by SOHO, was setting off a strong high energy proton event and a fast-moving Coronal Mass Ejection, hitting Earth early on Wednesday 29 October. The one-two punch was a done deal on Wednesday afternoon, when an X 10.0 flare set off another round of particles and another fast-moving CME.


[TRACE2005.mpg] RHESSI and TRACE View of January 20, 2005 Solar Flare RHESSI spacecraft images of gamma-rays (blue) and X-rays (red) thrown off by the hottest part of the flare are shown with UV images from the TRACE spacecraft. The gamma rays are made by energetic protons at the Sun. Scientists were surprised that the gamma rays matched the energy spectrum of protons at Earth: the proton storm may have come directly from the Sun and not from the CME as anticipated.

More to Come!!!