Washington, Sept 8 (ANI): Energy from some solar flares is stronger and lasts longer than previously thought, data collected from NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory has shown.
Using SDO's Extreme ultraviolet Variability Experiment, or EVE instrument designed and built at CU-Boulder, scientists have observed that radiation from solar flares sometimes continues for up to five hours beyond the initial minutes of the main phase of a solar flare occurrence.
The new data also show that the total energy from this extended phase of the solar flare peak sometimes has more energy than that of the initial event.
"If we can get these new results into space weather prediction models, we should be able to more reliably forecast solar events and their effects on our communication and navigation systems on Earth," said CU-Boulder Senior Research Associate Tom Woods of the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, who led the development of EVE.
"Previous observations considered a few seconds or minutes to be the normal part of the flare process," said Lika Guhathakurta, lead program scientist for NASA's Living With a Star Program.
"This new data will increase our understanding of flare physics and the consequences in near-Earth space where many scientific and commercial satellites reside."
The new capability with SDO observations will provide a much more accurate estimation of the total energy input into Earth's environment.
SDO was launched on Feb. 11, 2010, and is the most advanced spacecraft ever designed to study the Sun and its dynamic behavior.
The advanced spacecraft provides images with clarity 10 times better than high-definition television and provides more comprehensive science data faster than any solar observing spacecraft in history. (ANI)
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