2026-01-21 マックス・プランク研究所
A snapshot taken one second before a powerful M-class solar flare erupted on the Sun on September 30, 2024. This image is a still from a video created from images taken by Solar Orbiter’s Extreme Ultraviolet Imager (EUI) instrument.© ESA & NASA/Solar Orbiter/EUI Team
＜関連情報＞
- https://www.mpg.de/26019123/magnetic-avalanche-on-the-sun
- https://www.aanda.org/articles/aa/full_html/2026/01/aa57253-25/aa57253-25.html
太陽フレアを動かす中心エンジンとしての磁気雪崩 A magnetic avalanche as the central engine powering a solar flare
L. P. Chitta, D. I. Pontin, E. R. Priest, D. Berghmans, E. Kraaikamp, L. Rodriguez, C. Verbeeck, A. N. Zhukov, S. Krucker, R. Aznar Cuadrado, D. Calchetti, J. Hirzberger, H. Peter, U. Schühle, S. K. Solanki, L. Teriaca, A. S. Giunta, F. Auchère, L. Harra, and D. Müller
Astronomy & Astrophysics Published:21 January 2026
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202557253
Abstract
Solar flares are the most powerful, magnetically driven, explosions in the heliosphere. The nature of magnetic energy release in the solar corona that heats the plasma and accelerates particles in a flare, however, remains poorly understood. Here, we report high-resolution coronal observations of a flare by the Solar Orbiter mission that reveal initially weaker but rapid reconnection events, on timescales of a few seconds at most, leading to a more prominent activity of a similar nature that explosively causes a flare. Signatures of this process are further imprinted on the widespread raining plasma blobs with short lifetimes, giving rise to the characteristic ribbon-like emission pattern associated with the flare. Our observations unveil the central engine of a flare and emphasize the crucial role of an avalanche-like magnetic energy release mechanism at work.
