Additionally, more powerful flares are less frequent than weaker ones. It can range from several per day during solar maximum to less than one every week during solar minimum. The frequency of occurrence of solar flares varies with the 11-year solar cycle. They involve faster ejections of material than eruptive prominences, and reach velocities of 20 to 2000 kilometers per second. Īssociated with solar flares are flare sprays. The same energy releases may produce coronal mass ejections (CMEs), although the relationship between CMEs and flares is still not well understood. Flares are powered by the sudden (timescales of minutes to tens of minutes) release of magnetic energy stored in the corona. Flares occur in active regions often around sunspots, where intense magnetic fields penetrate the photosphere to link the corona to the solar interior. Most of the energy is spread over frequencies outside the visual range the majority of the flares are not visible to the naked eye and must be observed with special instruments. Flares produce electromagnetic radiation across the electromagnetic spectrum at all wavelengths, from radio waves to gamma rays. The plasma medium is heated to tens of millions of kelvins, while electrons, protons, and heavier ions are accelerated to near the speed of light. Solar flares affect all layers of the solar atmosphere ( photosphere, chromosphere, and corona).
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