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A Sympathetic Flare
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The above GIF animation shows a C1.6 flare launching from AR12349. Simultaneously, loops in the active region above and to the left of it illuminate in sync with the flare. This type of event is referred to as a sympathetic flare. As the name suggests, the flares occur due to the same mechanism. They are related. But determining if events are sympathetic is so difficult that solar scientists still debate if they exist. It wasn't until the launch of SDO/AIA and STEREO did we get a clear example of a sympathetic flare. A close up view of the active regions as viewed in the thin_Be filter is shown a few hours before the flare (right image). In this image, there are long thin strands connecting the two active regions. These long threads indicate that the active regions are connected and a disturbance in one of the active regions could affect both. Keywords: Flare, AR Tracking Filters: Al_poly, thin_Be |
(Prepared by Patricia Jibben)
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