SOLAR FLARES AND ERUPTIONSLyndsay Fletcher

University of Glasgow

Sunspots - hotbeds of solar activity

Solar minimum, solar maximum

An active region seen by Hinode

Winding up the magnetic field

Gas at the solar equator has a higher speed than that at the poles.

This ‘winds up’ the magnetic field - like stretching a rubber band

Magnetic Loops

Twisted loops

images:TRACE/NASA

A Solar Flare

An explosion in the Sun’s corona cause by magnetic energy build-up

Start of a coronal mass ejection

A billion tonnes of ionised gas, moving at a million kilometers per hour

Coronal mass ejections seen by SOHO

During solar maximum, the Sun produces about 3 big mass ejections per day

Coronal mass ejections seen by SOHO

How do flares and eruptions affect Earth?

We live inside the atmosphere of a star!