Flares
Error
M5 flare (2/2)
Dunn Solar Telescope/ROSA
The Rapid Oscillations in the Solar Atmosphere (ROSA) instrument is a high cadence broad-band imager installed as a common-user instrument on the Dunn Solar Telescope at the National Solar Observatory in New Mexico since August 2008. It was designed, built and maintained by Queen’s University Belfast. It is capable of imaging the lower solar atmosphere simultaneously in six bandpasses at typical frame rates of 30 frames-per-second and a diffraction-limited spatial sampling of 0.069 arcsecs/pixel.
This image was taken on the 6th of November 2010 of active region NOAA 11121. It shows an M5 class flare occurring within the active region as observed in the H-alpha line with ROSA. Flares are highly energetic events caused by magnetic reconnection in active regions. They are interesting to researchers due to the high energies involved and due to the undesired effects they can cause on Earth (e.g., satellite communication disruptions and power grid failures). They are often difficult to image from ground-based facilities due to the lack of predictability in both their timings and locations.
Image credit: Peter Keys (Queen's University Belfast)