Questions tagged [solar-flare]
Questions regarding a sudden brightness increase due to the release of magnetic energy from the sun.
49
questions
28
votes
1
answer
6k
views
Is the dark side of the earth protected from the risks of solar flares?
Many speculate about the possibility of another “Carrington event”. Without getting into unrealistic scenarios, I ask myself the following question: would electronic lines and the equipment connected ...
21
votes
2
answers
4k
views
What are the main differences between solar flares and coronal mass ejections?
Specifically, what causes them, what sort of damage can they cause, and what are the differences in their composition?
17
votes
2
answers
638
views
What is the largest recorded solar flare?
For the purposes of this question I would interpret the word "recorded" as loosely as possible meaning that historic records such as ice cores or tree rings would count. Also what effect did such a ...
16
votes
1
answer
519
views
How do large solar flares compare to flares on other stars?
Solar flares are violent releases of solar magnetic energy. Other stars are also known to have magnetic fields, in some cases much stronger than the Sun. How do the largest stellar flares compare to ...
14
votes
3
answers
3k
views
How can I safely observe a Solar Flare?
Solar Flares obviously release extreme amounts of energy and extend thousands of miles out into space.
Because they are so big I would like to be able to observe some of these events through a ...
10
votes
1
answer
117
views
Any new info about solar flares hitting the Moon added by the LADEE mission?
This article from 2011 mentions simulations about the sputtering effect caused by a solar flare hitting the Moon:
"We found that when this massive cloud of plasma strikes the moon, it
acts like a ...
9
votes
1
answer
305
views
How likely is it that the Sun will destroy our electric society?
Given the studies of the Sun and similar stars and the most impressive understanding of its physics, is there any kind of probability distribution for its dangerous behavior? There are also some ...
9
votes
2
answers
680
views
Typical wavelength of solar flare
I read that solar flares are customarily viewed in H-alpha light, as a temporary brightening of a small portion of chromosphere.
What all can be interpreted from this? Is it because, energy of the ...
8
votes
1
answer
65
views
Are we still in the Solar Maximus stage? Will this winter 2013/14 be a good aurora-viewing season?
I remember reading in 2011 that 2013/2014 would be the peak of the current solar maximus, but I want to confirm whether that is still ongoing. Will the upcoming winter season be a good time to see ...
7
votes
1
answer
745
views
Is the mechanism of solar flares on red dwarfs and brown dwarfs the same as that on the Sun?
The Sun has solar flares that are caused when there is a magnetic reconnection in the Sun's atmosphere, causing a loop of magnetic field to be ejected at high energy, along with a large number of ...
7
votes
1
answer
164
views
What forces expelled these huge clouds, then blocked further progress, yet allowed it to maintain its threads?
From Wikipedia and NASA:
Caption: NASA: S74-15583
(July 1973) --- A huge solar eruption can be seen in this Spectroheliogram obtained during the Skylab 3 mission by the Extreme Ultraviolet ...
7
votes
1
answer
291
views
Difference in creation of solar flares and CME?
What is the difference in the creation process of solar flares and CME (coronal mass ejections)? How do they relate to sunspots and coronal holes?
Here there are some good explanations about the ...
6
votes
1
answer
477
views
Where do Coronal Mass Ejections go?
Due to magnetic fluctuations in the Sun's corona, the Sun produces Coronal Mass ejections (CMEs).
Where does the matter from these CMEs go if they don't hit any celestial object? Are they visible from ...
6
votes
1
answer
59
views
What online tools are available to investigate and classify solar eruptions?
I was just casually browsing when I came across a link about at recent solar flare. So I went to investigate at SpaceWeather. There it was stated:
Looking further down the page it seem to say that ...
6
votes
2
answers
229
views
What triggers solar flares?
The sun is a big ball of hot plasma which contains free electrons. However, how does the absence of metallic elements in the sun generate the magnetic field to orchestrate these free electrons to ...