Flashes on the Sun's Upper Atmosphere Could Aid in Forecasting the Next Solar Flare, NASA Says

NorthWest Research Associates (NWRA) researchers have discovered new signs from the Sun's atmosphere that may assist in predicting when the next solar flare will happen. As per SciTech Daily, the scientists used data from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) when they detected the signals in the upper layer of the solar atmosphere or corona.

These signals might help predict which parts of the Sun would create a solar flare. They noticed that the corona released small-scale lights that resembled miniature sparklers before a large firework display over the regions ready to flare.

Flashes on the Sun's Upper Atmosphere Could Aid in Forecasting the Next Solar Flare, NASA Says Pixabay/WikiImages

Distinguishing Active Regions on the Sun

Scientists have previously investigated how activity in lower layers of the Sun's atmosphere, namely the photosphere and chromosphere, can predict impending flare activity in active regions.

Solar activities are often characterized by groups of sunspots or strong magnetic regions on the Sun's surface that are darker and cooler than their surroundings. The latest discoveries, which have been published in The Astrophysical Journal, add to that picture.

Professor KD Leka, the study's principal author, explained that there is a lot of information to be taken from the Sun's corona and the photosphere. Their findings may even provide a new marker to identify the active locations that are likely to erupt soon or areas that will remain quiet in the foreseeable future.

NASA reports that the scientists used a freshly generated picture database of the Sun's active areas collected by SDO, which was published in a companion paper also in The Astrophysical Journal, for their research. The publicly available resource comprises photographs acquired of active locations in ultraviolet and extreme-ultraviolet light during an eight-year period.

The NWRA team's new database, led by Karin Dissauer and designed by Eric L. Wagner, makes it easier for scientists to use data from the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) on SDO for big statistical investigations. It is the first database that has been made widely available to the scientific community and will be highly beneficial for studying the Sun.

Using statistical tools developed by team member Graham Barnes, the NWRA team examined a large sample of active locations from the database. They found that each flare was preceded by tiny flashes in the corona. These and other new discoveries will help researchers better understand the physics at work in these magnetically active areas, with the objective of creating new techniques to anticipate solar flares.

Solar Flares Explained

Solar flares are massive, powerful bursts of light and particles from the Sun caused by the release of energy contained in distorted magnetic fields, according to Innovation News Network.

Solar flares may heat the material to millions of degrees in seconds, resulting in a burst of radiation across the electromagnetic spectrum, from radio waves to x-rays and gamma rays.

They are categorized into three types depending on their brightness and x-ray wavelengths: X-class flares are the brightest, M-class flares are medium-sized, and C-class flares are the smallest. Solar flares may have a variety of effects on Earth, including auroras, threatening astronauts, interrupting radio communications, and triggering widespread power outages.