Solar flares – the most powerful explosions in the Solar System, by Professor Philippa Browning

Solar flares are powerful “explosions” in the Sun’s atmosphere, the corona. They are caused by a rapid release of the energy stored in the strong magnetic field of the corona – the magnetic field lines break in a process known as magnetic reconnection. This heats the gas to temperatures of tens of millions of degrees and creates beams of very high-energy charged particles. The particles and electromagnetic radiation from flares can have significant effects on the Earth and our space environment. Since a solar flare was observed for the first time in 1859, we have learnt a lot about these exciting events, but there are many puzzles remaining which we may begin to solve with the help of new data from space missions such as Parker Solar Probe and Solar Orbiter, as well as computer simulations.

Philippa Browning was interested in astronomy from an early age, partly inspired by the Apollo moon…