Solar flares are the most energetic explosions in the solar
system. Solar flares are the most energetic explosions in the solar
system.
Solar flares
have a direct effect on the Earth's atmosphere.
The intense radiation from a solar flare travels to Earth in eight minutes. As a result:
- The Earth's upper atmosphere becomes more ionized and expands.
- Long distance radio signals can be disrupted by the resulting change in the Earth's ionosphere.
- A satellite's orbit around the Earth can be disturbed by the enhanced drag on the satellite from the expanded atmosphere.
- Satellites' electronic components can be damaged.
Energetic
particles accelerated in solar flares that escape into
interplanetary space are dangerous to astronauts and to
electronic instruments in space.
Similar
energy release processes take place in other cosmic events. These
events occur on objects that are too far away to study in the
detail that solar flares can be studied on the Sun. Understanding
solar flares can aid in understanding these events.
Solar flares
provide an opportunity to study physical processes in nature that
are similar to those that occur in laboratory devices designed
for the purpose of achieving controlled thermonuclear
fusion.
Next: Coronal Mass Ejections, Solar
Flares, and the Sun-Earth Connection
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