Unprecedented Fine Structure of a Solar Flare Revealed by the 1.6 m New Solar Telescope.

ABSTRACT: Solar flares signify the sudden release of magnetic energy and are sources of so called space weather. The fine structures (below 500 km) of flares are rarely observed and are accessible to only a few instruments world-wide. Here we present observation of a solar flare using exceptionally high resolution images from the 1.6 m New Solar Telescope (NST) equipped with high order adaptive optics at Big Bear Solar Observatory (BBSO). The observation reveals the process of the flare in unprecedented detail, including the flare ribbon propagating across the sunspots, coronal rain (made of condensing plasma) streaming down along the post-flare loops, and the chromosphere's response to the impact of coronal rain, showing fine-scale brightenings at the footpoints of the falling plasma. Taking advant

SUBMITTER: Jing J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4829858 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature