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Magnetic avalanches power solar flares, finds Solar Orbiter

📖 3 min read 📊 beginner 🏷️ ESA

In Brief

Just as avalanches on snowy mountains start with the movement of a small quantity of snow, the ESA-led Solar Orbiter spacecraft has discovered that a solar flare is triggered by initially weak disturbances that quickly become more violent. This rapidly evolving process creates a ‘sky’ of raining pla...

Magnetic avalanches power solar flares, finds Solar Orbiter

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The Full Story

Just as avalanches on snowy mountains start with the movement of a small quantity of snow, the ESA-led Solar Orbiter spacecraft has discovered that a solar flare is triggered by initially weak disturbances that quickly become more violent. This rapidly evolving process creates a ‘sky’ of raining plasma blobs that continue to fall even after the flare subsides....

Key Takeaways

  • 1 Important astronomical discovery
  • 2 Advances our understanding
  • 3 Future research potential
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How We Know This

Scientific observation and analysis

What This Means

Contributes to our knowledge of the universe

Why It Matters

Important advance in astronomy

Related Topics

#astronomy #discovery