Invisible 'flickering' on the Sun could predict dangerous solar flares

Shining loops of plasma on the surface of the Sun 'flicker' hours before they unleash potentially dangerous solar flares.

- HARRY BAKER

The new findings could help create more reliable space weather forecasts. Solar flares are violent outbursts of electromagnetic radiation that shoot from the Sun when invisible magnetic field lines at the Sun's surface get twisted up until they eventually snap. These outbursts most commonly occur around sunspots – dark patches where magnetic field lines poke through our star's surface - and often pull up plasma from the Sun's surface into shimmering horseshoe shapes, known as coronal loops, before they blow their top.

These stellar explosions can send waves of radiation towards Earth that can trigger temporary radio blackouts. The flares can also unleash fast-moving clouds of magnetised plasma, known as coronal mass ejections (CMEs), that occasionally slam into our planet and cause geomagnetic storms. Researchers analysed multi-wavelength images of coronal loops preceding 50 solar flares, filmed by NASA's Solar Dynamics