You must have heard of Solar Flare, Sunspot and terms like that. But what is the Solar Flare. Let us see the basics of Solar Flare and how it is formed. The Solar Flare is defined as a sudden and intense brightening of a small part of the Sun’s Chromosphere due to an intense eruption of Electromagnetic Radiation.
The Solar Flare happens in the Sun’s atmosphere near the Sunspot group. Sunspots are temporary phenomena on the Sun’s atmosphere that appear as spots darker than the surrounding areas. The regions where Sunspots build up have a reduced temperature due to the concentrations of Magnetic Flux inhibiting Convection. Spots may be individual ones or formed as a group. They last from few days to months, which gradually decay.
Nature of Solar Flare
The brightness of Solar Flare may be five times that of associated Plage or Facula. Plage is an unusually bright region on the Sun and Facula is again a bright region on the Surface of the Sun. Flare develops in a few minutes and may last for several hours.
Solar Flares occur in a Power-Law spectrum of magnitudes, releasing tremendous energy. They were originally observed in the Visible Electromagnetic Spectrum but they can also be detected from Radio Wave to Gamma-Ray Radiation. Solar Flares usually happens as a result of Sunspot activity. They emit Ultraviolet Radiations and X-Rays. They also emit great amount of Energy Particles, Cosmic Rays and produce intense streams of Electrons. The speed of Solar Flares is about one third of the speed of Light. Solar Flares when happen on other stars, they are called as Stellar Flares.
The Frequency of occurrence of Solar Flares varies the 11-year Solar Cycle. The solar cycle or solar magnetic activity cycle is a nearly periodic 11-year change in the Sun’s activity. It is measured in terms of variations in the number of observed sunspots on the solar surface.
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