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    solar flares tagged posts

    EOVSA reveals new insights into Solar Flares’ Explosive Energy Releases

    May 29, 2018, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    This is a EOVSA radio intensity spectrogram of the 2017 September 10 solar flare, with frequency (vertical scale) and time (horizontal scale). Credit: New Jersey Institute of Technology's expanded Owens Valley Solar Array

    This is a EOVSA radio intensity spectrogram of the 2017 September 10 solar flare, with frequency (vertical scale) and time (horizontal scale). Credit: New Jersey Institute of Technology’s expanded Owens Valley Solar Array

    Last September, a massive new region of magnetic field erupted on the Sun’s surface next to an existing sunspot. The powerful collision of magnetic fields produced a series of potent solar flares, causing turbulent space weather conditions at Earth. These were the first flares to be captured, in their moment-by-moment progression, by New Jersey Institute of Technology’s (NJIT) recently expanded Owens Valley Solar Array (EOVSA).

    With 13 antennas now working together, EOVSA was able to make images of the flare in multiple radio frequencies simultaneously for the first time...

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    A New Approach to Forecasting Solar Flares?

    May 24, 2017, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    1.Evolution of the magnetic field in two simulations of the formation of active solar regions. Top row: non-eruptive scenario where the configuration remains stable. Bottom row: eruptive scenario. Credit: © E.Pariat, figure adapted from Pariat & al, A&A 2017 2. Time evolution of the value of a quantity based on magnetic helicity, for the various numerical simulations tested. This predictive quantity has high values before the eruption in the eruptive simulations (red, orange and yellow curves) and low values in the non-eruptive cases (black, violet, blue and cyan curves). 3. Artist's impression of a solar flare and the twisted magnetic field that carries away the ejected solar material.

    1.Evolution of the magnetic field in two simulations of the formation of active solar regions. Top row: non-eruptive scenario where the configuration remains stable. Bottom row: eruptive scenario.
    Credit: © E.Pariat, figure adapted from Pariat & al, A&A 2017
    2. Time evolution of the value of a quantity based on magnetic helicity, for the various numerical simulations tested. This predictive quantity has high values before the eruption in the eruptive simulations (red, orange and yellow curves) and low values in the non-eruptive cases (black, violet, blue and cyan curves).
    3. Artist’s impression of a solar flare and the twisted magnetic field that carries away the ejected solar material.

    The emerging discipline of space meteorology aims to reliably predict solar flares so that we may better g...

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    Space Mission first to observe key Interaction between Magnetic fields of Earth and sun

    May 13, 2016, Categories  Astronomy/Space

    This artist's rendition shows the four identical MMS spacecraft flying near the sun-facing boundary of Earth's magnetic field (blue wavy lines). The MMS mission has revealed the clearest picture yet of the process of magnetic reconnection between the magnetic fields of Earth and the sun -- a driving force behind space weather, solar flares and other energetic phenomena. Credit: NASA

    This artist’s rendition shows the four identical MMS spacecraft flying near the sun-facing boundary of Earth’s magnetic field (blue wavy lines). The MMS mission has revealed the clearest picture yet of the process of magnetic reconnection between the magnetic fields of Earth and the sun — a driving force behind space weather, solar flares and other energetic phenomena. Credit: NASA

    A new study provides the first major results of NASA’s Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission. The paper describes the first direct and detailed observation of magnetic reconnection, which occurs when 2 opposing magnetic field lines break and reconnect with each other, releasing massive amounts of energy. The discovery is a major milestone in understanding magnetism and space weather.

    Evidence suggests reconnec...

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    New Phenomenon of Abrupt Excitation of Fluctuations in high-temperature plasma

    January 13, 2016, Categories  Physics, Technology/Electronics

    Figure 2: This shows the restoring force against the growth of fluctuations. When the amplitude is lower than the threshold value, the amplitude approaches zero and is stable (black). Separating from the center, when the amplitude exceeds the threshold value, the amplitude abruptly grows red. Credit: National Institutes of Natural Sciences

    Figure 2: This shows the restoring force against the growth of fluctuations. When the amplitude is lower than the threshold value, the amplitude approaches zero and is stable (black). Separating from the center, when the amplitude exceeds the threshold value, the amplitude abruptly grows red. Credit: National Institutes of Natural Sciences

    In the Large Helical Device (LHD) at the National Institute for Fusion Science in Japan, researchers have developed the high-energy heavy ion beam probe, in order to perform potential measurement inside plasma that was generated in the LHD and have clarified the mechanism of this new phenomenon.

    Seeking to achieve nuclear fusion, research on plasma of >100,000,000 C is being conducted around the world...

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