NASA spacecraft spots a late phase in solar flares

Solar Dynamics Observatory data indicates that radiation from solar flares continues for up to 5 hours beyond the peak event, with the total energy sometimes being greater than that of the initial flare.
By NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland — Published: September 8, 2011
Late-phase-solar-flare
While observing a May 2010 solar flare with its multiwavelength vision, the Solar Dynamics Observatory recorded data indicating that some other wavelengths of light weren't behaving in sync with the X-rays, but peaked at other times.
Photo by NASA/SDO/Tom Woods
The Sun's surface dances. Giant loops of magnetized solar material burst up, twist, and fall back down. Some erupt, shooting radiation flares and particles out into space. Forced to observe this dance from afar, scientists use all the tools at their disposal to look for patterns and connections to discover what causes these great explosions. Mapping these patterns could help scientists predict the onset of space weather that bursts toward Earth from the Sun, interfering with communications and Global Positioning System (GPS) signals.
Analysis of 191 solar flares since May 2010 by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) has recently shown a new piece in the pattern: some 15 percent of the flares have a distinct "late phase flare" some minutes to hours later that has never before been fully observed. This late phase of the flare pumps much more energy out into space than previously realized.
"We're starting to see all sorts of new things," said Phil Chamberlin, deputy project scientist for SDO at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. "We see a large increase in emissions a half-hour to several hours later that is sometimes even larger than the original, traditional phases of the flare. In one case on November 3, 2010, measuring only the effects of the main flare would mean underestimating the amount of energy shooting into Earth's atmosphere by 70 percent."

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