Scientists have found new evidence that could help predict when and where the next solar flare could occur, a phenomenon that could compromise the safety of astronauts in space, disrupt communications and cause electrical blackouts.
Researchers from the scientific organization NorthWest Research Associates, in the United States, discovered that the corona (upper layer of the Sun’s atmosphere) produces small-scale flashes above the regions about to produce eruptions.
Solar flares are explosions on the Sun’s surface caused by changes in its magnetic field. These explosions release high levels of radiation and particles at high speeds.
Due to the impact that solar flares can have on space and especially on Earth, the activity of the Sun is monitored through several observatories.
For the new study, published in The Astrophysical Journal, scientists used images from the US space agency’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (NASA) to detect tiny signals in the corona that could help identify the solar regions that are most likely to generate eruptions.
Scientists had previously studied how activity in the lower layers of the solar atmosphere – the photosphere and chromosphere – can signal the imminence of an eruption in active regions, often marked by clusters of sunspots.
