NASA may have captured a solar flare from two different spots in space. The new findings may tell scientists a bit more about these bursts of light and how they may impact Earth.
Solar flares are eruptions on the sun that eject radiation in all directions. The strongest solar flares can actually impact the ionized part of Earth's atmosphere, called the ionosphere. This, in turn, can interfere with our communications systems, such as radio and GPS. It can also disrupt onboard satellite electronics.
Unlike other space weather events, solar flares travel at the speed of light. This means that scientists get no warning when they're coming. That's why researchers are working on pinning down the process that creates solar flares.
A current sheet is a very fast, very flat flow of electrically charged material. It's defined in part by its extreme thinness compared to its length and width. Current sheets form when two oppositely aligned magnetic fields come in close contact, creating high magnetic pressure.
"The existence of a current sheet is crucial in all our models of solar flares," said James McAteer, an astrophysicist at New Mexico State University and one of the researchers involved in the study. "So these observations make us much more comfortable that our models are good."
In this case, researchers used a wealth of instruments from three solar-watching missions to see a sheet in December of 2013. These instruments included NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory, NASA's Solar and Terrestrial Relations Observatory, and Hinode. All of these together gave three views of the same event.
Because the current sheet in this event was so well observed, the researchers could confirm the event's temperature, density, and size over the course of the event. More specifically, they found that it was consistent with a current sheet.
The results may tell researchers a bit more about current sheets and solar flares. This is especially important moving forward, since it may allow researchers to predict these particular events in the future, which is especially important due to the fact that these events can wreak havoc on communications.
The findings were published in the April 19 issue of the journal Astrophysical Journal Letters.
