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This Solar flares article was introduced to help you to understand all about solar flares and the related solar events.
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| Solar System Facts | Solar Flares |
Solar flares definition
Solar flares are sudden flashes of increased brightness on the surface of the Sun. and Solar flares occur due to changes in local magnetic fields. Solar flares occur in a few minutes, or seconds, and may in several hours.
Sun activity cycle
The sun has a quasi-regular cycle of activity every 11 years, releasing a quantity of magnetic energy stored in its atmosphere, which includes X-rays, high-energy ultraviolet rays, gamma rays, infrared rays, visible rays and others. The launch of this energy is what is known as the solar flare, which is equivalent to the explosion of tens of millions of hydrogen bombs, and the area of the sun surface more than one million square kilometers.
Since the peak of the current cycle of the sun is expected in 2013, it was natural to increase its activity, which led to the solar flare last March, which was rated on the scale of solar flares with «X 5.4», and led to the launch of an electronic shock loaded with shipments more than 4 million Km per hour.
Solar flares energy
Solar flares occur when a star's magnetic-field lines twist and tangle around each other until they snap, unleashing huge amounts of energy and charged particles. According to NASA, a typical solar flare from Earth's sun releases the energy equivalent of "millions of 100-megaton hydrogen bombs exploding at the same time." When this energy washes over Earth, it can temporarily knock out satellites and short-circuit technology around the world; one famous flare from 1859, known as the Carrington event, caused telegraph wires to shoot out sparks that caused offices to burst into flames.
How Solar flares rays arrive earth
Solar flares are brighter than the whole Sun in X-rays and in ultraviolet light. X-ray photons and high energy particles arrive immediately, but the main particle flux arrives a few days later.
Do solar flares affect earth ?
Astronomers assert that there is no danger to humans from the solar flares. They explain that the effects of the solar flares reach the Earth at different times and have different effects from each other. The first thing we get at solar flares is an increase in the sun's electromagnetic spectrum radiation, which includes radio, infrared, visible, ultraviolet, X-ray and gamma rays. The X-rays, these types of solar radiation reach the earth after only eight minutes, produce a sudden increase in the ionic ratio in the upper atmosphere of the ionosphere (which ranges between 85 and 700 km), leading to disturbances in the transmission and communication, Shortwave used in some navigation areas. If the solar flare is huge, aircraft and ships using these waves may lose contact for several hours.
First solar flare
The solar flare was first seen in 1851, while astronaut Richard Carrington watched the sunspots from the Earth. He was surprised by the appearance of strong light emissions from the sun that he had never seen during his continues observation. His observations were the start point for astronomers to set out to study solar flares.
