Image Caption: This is an image of a solar flare. Scientists have for the first time witnessed the mechanism behind explosive energy releases in the Sun's atmosphere. Credit: NASA/SDO and AIA

University of Cambridge

Video of magnetic field lines slipping reconnection bring scientists a step closer to predicting when and where large flares will occur

Scientists have for the first time witnessed the mechanism behind explosive energy releases in the Suns atmosphere, confirming new theories about how solar flares are created.

New footage put together by an international team led by University of Cambridge researchers shows how entangled magnetic field lines looping from the Suns surface slip around each other and lead to an eruption 35 times the size of the Earth and an explosive release of magnetic energy into space.

The discoveries of a gigantic energy build-up bring us a step closer to predicting when and where large flares will occur, which is crucial in protecting the Earth from potentially devastating space weather. The study is published in The Astrophysical Journal.

While solar flares have long been a spectacular reminder of our stars power, they are also associated with Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) eruptions of solar material with a twisted magnetic structure flying out of the Sun and into interplanetary space.

Space weather such as CMEs has been identified as a significant risk to the countrys infrastructure by the UKs National Risk Register. Late last year The UKs MET Office announced it would set up a daily space weather forecast to work with the USAs Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC).

The papers lead author, Dr Jaroslav Dudik, Royal Society Newton International Fellow at the University of Cambridges Centre for Mathematical Sciences, said: We care about this as during flares we can have CMEs and sometimes they are sent in our direction. Human civilization is nowadays maintained by technology and that technology is vulnerable to space weather. Indeed, CMEs can damage satellites and therefore have an enormous financial cost.

[ Watch the Video: First Sightings Of Solar Flare Phenomena Confirm 3D Models Of Space Weather ]

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First Sightings Of Solar Flare Phenomena Confirm 3-D Models Of Space Weather